JOLIET, Ill. -- The University of St. Francis men's basketball team will open its 54th season of competition on Tuesday evening when the Fighting Saints travel to Chicago for an exhibition game to play Loyola University Chicago.  The exhibition game is one of three that head coach Ryan Marks' club will undertake during the 2025-26 season.  Along with the exhibition matchups, USF will travel to 16 visiting sites during the year, while playing host to 14 contests during the season, including its home opener on Nov. 19 versus Viterbo University (Wis.) in a Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference matchup.

St. Francis' other two exhibition contests come on Nov. 6 and Nov. 11 when the Saints travel to take on St. Edward's University (Texas) and University of Illinois Chicago, respectively.

USF will have a total of seven non-conference matchups in the months of November and December, highlighted with the team's participation in three non-conference tournaments.  The USF-hosted Thanksgiving Classic features Marian University (Ind.) on the Saturday after Thanksgiving and Cumberland University (Tenn.) on Sunday, while the NAIA Christmas Tournament takes place Dec. 16-17 with games against St. Thomas University (Fla.) and Milligan University (Tenn.).  The New Year's Classic takes place on the campus of USF on Dec. 30-31 with showings against Concordia University (Neb.) and Vermont State University Randolph College.

An away date with Eureka College on Dec. 3 will close out the non-conference slate with the Saints taking on all CCAC institutions during the entirety of 2026.

The 27-game schedule – minus the exhibitions – features 20 league contests with the Saints playing a home-and-away series with all but two of the 11 other members in the conference.  The only two single-game matchups will be against Indiana University Northwest (Jan. 17) and Calumet College of St. Joseph (Ind.) (Jan. 28).

The other nine CCAC foes, along with Viterbo, that will play the Saints twice are Trinity Christian College, Judson University, Holy Cross College (Ind.), Olivet Nazarene University, Governors State University, Saint Xavier University, Indiana University South Bend and St, Ambrose University (Iowa).

Both the CCAC regular-season and tournament champion earn the league's two conference bids to the NAIA National Tournament Opening Round, which takes place March 13-14.  The CCAC Tournament is Feb. 25, Feb. 27 and Mar. 2.

The NAIA National Championships will again take place at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Mo. March 19-24.

USF recorded its 15th consecutive double digit-win season one year ago when it went 25-6.  In league action, the Saints qualified for post season play after going 16-4 to finish in a tie for first place in league standings and earning a bid to the NAIA National Tournament Opening Round after capturing the 2025-26 CCAC Tournament championship where they ended their season to University of Pikeville (Ky.) in overtime.

For the complete schedule, go to Schedule.

You can keep up with everything happening around USF Athletics on X @USFSaints.