LSU basketball’s 2026-27 schedule is now set, and Will Wade’s first season back in Baton Rouge comes with a full slate that stretches from October through the SEC Tournament in March.
The Tigers will play 32 regular-season games and three exhibitions. Nineteen of those regular-season games are at home, nine are on the road, and four are at neutral sites. Two of those neutral-site games come during Thanksgiving week in the Acrisure Series tournament.
LSU opens the exhibition portion of the year on Thursday, Oct. 8, at McNeese, then hosts UCF on Wednesday, Oct. 14, before finishing the preseason slate at Florida State on Saturday, Oct. 24.
The regular season begins Tuesday, Nov. 3, with LSU-New Orleans. From there, the Tigers stay busy early with home dates against Texas Southern on Friday, Nov.
6, Louisiana Tech on Monday, Nov. 9, Louisiana-Monroe on Wednesday, Nov. 18, and Queens on Saturday, Nov.
One of the first marquee matchups arrives Saturday, Nov. 14, when LSU faces Gonzaga at Numerica Veterans Arena in Spokane, Wash. The Tigers then head into the Acrisure Series in Palm Springs, Calif., where they’ll play on Wednesday, Nov. 25 and Thursday, Nov. 26 against Arizona State, USC or SMU.
LSU’s nonconference schedule also includes Wake Forest in the SEC/ACC Challenge on Tuesday, Dec. 1, Hofstra on Saturday, Dec.
5, Houston at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas, on Sunday, Dec. 13, High Point on Friday, Dec.
18, Louisiana on Tuesday, Dec. 22, and Washington State on Monday, Dec. 28.
The season’s SEC grind starts Saturday, Jan. 2, with South Carolina coming to Baton Rouge. LSU then hits the road for conference matchups at Alabama, Kentucky, Texas A&M, Arkansas, Georgia, Oklahoma, Mississippi State, Auburn and Missouri, while also hosting Tennessee, Texas, Auburn, Vanderbilt, Ole Miss, Florida, Texas A&M and Arkansas.
Some of those league games are locked to either Tuesday or Wednesday dates, including trips to Alabama, Kentucky, Arkansas and Auburn, plus home dates with Vanderbilt, Florida and Arkansas.
The regular season wraps up before the SEC Tournament, which runs Wednesday, March 10 through Sunday, March 14 at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tenn.
Tip-off times and TV channels will be announced later, and the schedule remains subject to change. One note on the calendar: if there’s a conflict with a College Football Playoff game, the High Point game will move to Saturday, Dec. 19.
In Other News...
LSU Defender's Take On Blake Baker Will Fire Up Tigers Fans
LSUs linebacker room got a notable boost when TJ Dottery arrived with the kind of starting experience that can steady a defense in a hurry. He is expected to line up alongside Whit Weeks, giving the Tigers a more seasoned presence in the middle of the field and adding another piece to a unit that will lean heavily on communication and consistency.
What stood out even more was Dotterys view of Blake Baker, whose reputation inside the program keeps growing. Dottery praised the defensive coordinators intelligence and leadership, and the kind of energy he brings around the team has clearly made an impression on a player who has seen a different sideline before. For LSU fans, that kind of endorsement from a newcomer is the sort of detail that can make a spring or summer storyline feel a little bigger. [Read more 🡒]
LSU Fans Need To Brace For A Massive Easton Royal Twist
Easton Royals recruitment has turned into one of the more intriguing offseason threads for LSU, especially with the five-star wide receiver still publicly committed to Texas but continuing to draw heavy attention from the Tigers. Royals late-May official visit to Baton Rouge kept LSU in the mix, and the back-and-forth has only intensified as both programs work to hold their ground with one of the nations premier pass-catching prospects.
The latest wrinkle came when Royal posted Wednesday, July 29 on X, a detail that has fueled speculation that a decision could be coming soon. Whether it ends up being a birthday nod or something more meaningful, the timing has only sharpened the sense that LSU and Texas are waiting on a major call that could reshape each schools 2027 recruiting outlook. [Read more 🡒]
Arkansas May Finally Have The Breakout Back Fans Have Wanted
The SECs running back picture is unusually stable heading into 2026, with most of last seasons top rushers set to return and the leagues established names largely carrying over. Arkansas is the lone exception at the very top, but the broader conversation quickly turns to the backs who could step into bigger roles, and LSU has one of the more intriguing ones in Harlem Berry, whose freshman season showed enough promise to make him a player worth tracking closely.
Berry rushed for 491 yards while sharing work with Caden Durham, and the underlying efficiency numbers were encouraging enough to suggest there may be more there if the workload grows. The catch for LSU is that Durham is back and Wisconsin transfer Dillin Jones is coming in, so the path to a true breakout is not exactly wide open. Still, Berry enters the offseason with the kind of profile that can make a spring and summer battle at running back one of the more interesting subplots around Baton Rouge. [Read more 🡒]
