Vanderbilt men’s basketball will be in front of a national audience plenty next season, with 21 games scheduled for the ESPN family of networks during the 2026-27 campaign after the Southeastern Conference and ESPN finalized the league’s dates, times and television windows Wednesday.
The Commodores’ exposure starts early. Vanderbilt opens on Nov. 5 at home against Wake Forest, with the game set for a 5 p.m. tip on ESPN2 inside Memorial Gymnasium. Two more nonconference home games are also locked in on television: Dec. 12 against West Georgia on SEC Network at 1 p.m., and Dec. 29 against Alcorn State on SEC Network at 7 p.m.
Vandy’s lone nonconference road game listed in the release comes Nov. 24 at Ohio State, which will air on Peacock/NBCSN with a 6 p.m. CT tip.
The SEC slate begins Jan. 2 with a trip to Tennessee, a 1 p.m. CT start on ESPN or ESPN2. Vanderbilt’s first league home game follows four days later, when Mississippi State visits Memorial Gymnasium on Jan. 6 for a 6 p.m. tip on SEC Network.
Every one of Vanderbilt’s 18 SEC regular-season games will be carried by the ESPN family of networks. Ten of those conference games are currently eligible for ESPN, while three more could land on ESPN2. The exact network assignments will continue to be filled in as the season unfolds.
Among the notable conference windows on the schedule, Vanderbilt will play at Florida on Jan. 9 at 10 a.m. on ESPN, host Auburn on Jan. 19 at 6 p.m. on SEC Network, and meet Tennessee again on March 6 in Nashville at 1 p.m. on ESPN or ESPN/U.
Other SEC dates include road games at Kentucky, Ole Miss, LSU, Georgia, Texas A&M, Alabama and Oklahoma, along with home matchups against South Carolina, Missouri, Texas and Kentucky. The schedule also lists Arkansas at home on Feb. 6 with a 7 or 7:30 p.m. tip, and Vanderbilt at Texas A&M on Feb. 20 at 3 or 3:30 p.m.
Season tickets and mini plans are already on sale at VUCommodores.com. Nonconference single-game tickets will go on sale Oct. 15, while SEC single-game tickets are slated for a December release.
In Other News...
Ole Miss Faces A Tough Prep Twist Before Vanderbilt
Vanderbilt is heading into its matchup with Ole Miss with a familiar layer of uncertainty at quarterback. Jared Curtis was unavailable for the Week 5 game against Georgia, and head coach Clark Lea said he is now questionable for the upcoming game against the Rebels as he works his way through recovery. The Commodores are preparing to host Ole Miss with Curtis still listed day-to-day.
For Vanderbilt, the timing adds an obvious wrinkle to a game already carrying plenty of weight. Curtis is progressing, but the staff still does not know whether it can count on him when Ole Miss arrives, leaving the offense to keep grinding through a week in which the quarterback picture remains unsettled. [Read more 🡒]
Vanderbilt May Get One Unexpected Edge Against Ole Miss
Ole Miss and Vanderbilt are set to meet in Nashville with weather now threatening to become part of the story. Tropical Storm Isaias, currently a category 1 hurricane that is forecast to strengthen before weakening, is expected to move north through Alabama into Tennessee by the weekend, raising the possibility of a wet, windy afternoon around the Commodores home field.
Forecasts call for rain and wind to accompany the game, which could tilt the environment toward the kind of messy, possession-by-possession football that often scrambles a favorites rhythm. The outlook is still fluid as the weekend nears, though, so both teams will be watching the skies closely before the 2:30 p.m. CT kickoff. [Read more 🡒]
Vanderbilt Fans Will Have Strong Opinions On This Weeks SEC Picks
Week 5 left the SEC picks panel right around break-even, with the staff finishing 21-21 overall and nobody sinking below 3-4. There was still plenty to argue about, though, especially when it came to Vanderbilts trip to Georgia and Missouris surprising road win at Florida, two results that shaped the conversation as much as the standings did. The weekly rundown also reminded readers how the picks game works, with staffers lining up to take shots against the spread across the league.
This weeks board brings another familiar test for anyone following the Commodores closely, because Vanderbilt is back in the spotlight in a matchup that figures to draw plenty of attention from the local audience. Around the rest of the SEC slate, the same formulas and the same debates apply: which underdogs can hang around, which favorites can cover, and which games are ripe for another round of second-guessing once the dust settles. [Read more 🡒]