Saint Mary's men's basketball released its 2026-27 schedule on Tuesday, Sept. 1, stacking the nonconference slate with NCAA Tournament opponents under first-year head coach Mickey McConnell in Moraga.

The Gaels, who have won four straight West Coast Conference (WCC) regular-season titles and made five consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances, open the regular season Nov. 2 against Illinois State at UCU Pavilion. The nonconference schedule features neutral-site games against Nevada in South Lake Tahoe on Nov. 8 and UCLA in San Diego on Nov. 26, plus a matchup with either Georgetown or Texas the following day.

Three 2026 NCAA Tournament teams visit Moraga during the nonconference stretch: North Dakota State on Nov. 4, Saint Louis on Nov. 20 and Hofstra on Dec. 1. All three won their respective conference titles last season. Saint Louis went 29-6, North Dakota State 27-8 and Hofstra 24-11.

The schedule reflects a priority McConnell laid out at his March 25 introductory press conference. "We'll be very specific and diligent about scheduling," McConnell said at the time. "We'll have to pick up a couple of more Quad 1 games in the non-conference."

McConnell, a two-time All-WCC guard who played 124 games for the Gaels from 2007 to 2011 and was named 2011 WCC Player of the Year, spent seven years as associate head coach under Randy Bennett before taking over. Bennett left for Arizona State on March 23 after 25 seasons as the program's all-time wins leader.

The roster returns junior guard Joshua Dent, the team's only returning All-WCC honoree. Dent, a 6-3 guard from Wollongong, Australia, averaged 13.0 points and 5.7 assists per game last season and was named First Team All-WCC as a sophomore. McConnell also signed McDonald's All-American point guard Darius Bivins out of Washington, D.C. Saint Mary's described Bivins as the highest-ranked recruit in program history.

The team traveled to Australia in August for a preseason trip.

Lamorinda residents have their own home date circled: the Dec. 29 game against Princeton is billed as "Lamorinda Night" at UCU Pavilion.

Reserved and general admission season tickets are on sale now through SMCGaels.com. Single-game tickets go on sale later in September. WCC play begins in early January, with the conference tournament set for March 5-9, 2027, at Orleans Arena in Las Vegas.