NEW ORLEANS – The 2025-26 men’s basketball season tips off Monday, November 3 with the third year of the MAC-SBC Challenge, as 13 Sun Belt Conference programs visit Mid-American Conference opponents. All 13 games will be broadcast on ESPN+.

WHAT TO WATCH FOR:
MAC-SBC CHALLENGE
Among Monday’s key matchups, Sun Belt preseason favorite James Madison travels to reigning MAC champion and preseason favorite Akron, as reigning Sun Belt champion Troy heads to MAC preseason No. 3 choice Kent State Old Dominion – which won three games in last year’s conference tournament and returns three starters – makes a trip to MAC runner-up Miami (Ohio) who was picked to finish second in the conference this season.
 
The second MAC-SBC Challenge contest for each team will be announced in January before tipping off on Saturday, February. The Sun Belt men and MAC women will host the February matchups, as each MAC and Sun Belt team included in the MAC-SBC Challenge is guaranteed one home and one away game each season.
 
MAC-SBC HISTORY
The Sun Belt and MAC played to a series split in 2024-25 with the SBC claiming an 8-4 record in November home games, before the MAC accomplished the same feat on its home courts in February. The Sun Belt captured the inaugural MAC-SBC Challenge title in 2023-24.

• Overall, the Sun Belt owns a 27-21 (.563) record in MAC-SBC Challenge men’s basketball games through the first two seasons:
  • 2023-24: 15-9 (.625)
  • 2024-25: 12-12 (.500)
    • Combined Sun Belt record at home: 18-6 (.750)
    • Combined Sun Belt record on the road: 9-15 (.375)
• Georgia State is the only team in either conference to play all four rounds of the MAC-SBC Challenge across its first two seasons and win all four games. The Panthers travel to Eastern Michigan in search of their fifth-straight win in the event.
  • Nov. 2023           at Western Michigan W, 77-70
  • Feb. 2024           MIAMI (Ohio) W, 73-53
  • Nov. 2024           BALL STATE   W, 71-66
  • Feb. 2025           at Buffalo W, 80-75
• Marshall will play its first MAC-SBC Challenge game after not playing in any of the first four rounds. The Herd will face UMass who will also be debuting in the event in its first game as a member of the MAC after joining the conference this season.
• James Madison and Texas State are the only Sun Belt teams with 3-1 records through the first two years of the MAC-SBC Challenge.

 
DECORATING DAVIS
The 2025 Sun Belt Conference Preseason Player of the Year, Old Dominion junior guard Robert Davis Jr. is the league’s top returning scorer from a year ago after averaging 15.6 points per game and scoring in double-figures 28 times for the Monarchs last season. He also led all NCAA Division I players in 3-point attempts (348), ranked first in the Sun Belt in minutes per game (35:37) and his 116 3-pointers made ranked eighth nationally.
 
BACK FOR MOORE
Georgia Southern graduate guard Tyren Moore returns to the Eagles where he starred with the program for two seasons (2022-24) before transferring to UAB. He was a 2024 All-Sun Belt Second Team choice and ranked third in the league in scoring (17.0) that season which included a league-leading 19.2 points per game against conference opponents.
 
ALMA MATER COACHING
Three Sun Belt men’s basketball head coaches – Marshall’s Cornelius Jackson, Old Dominion’s Mike Jones and Southern Miss’ Jay Ladner – are each leading their alma maters. Jackson and Jones are in their second seasons as NCAA Division I head coaches and were Joe B. Hall Award finalists in 2024-25 while Ladner embarks on his seventh year leading the Golden Eagles.
 
PARTY IN PENSACOLA
The 2026 Visit Pensacola Sun Belt Basketball Championships presented by Air Force Reserve will be held March 3-9, 2026 at the Pensacola Bay Center in Pensacola, Fla., The championship game will be televised nationally on ESPN or ESPN2 on Monday, March 9. The 2026 tournament will mark the sixth consecutive season the Sun Belt hosts the event in Pensacola, which will remain at the venue through the 2029-30 campaign. A different program has been crowned champion in each of the first five years in Pensacola:
 

• 2021 - App State
• 2022 - Georgia State
• 2023 – Louisiana
• 2024 - James Madison
• 2025 - Troy
   

 WHERE TO WATCH

Date	Time	Matchup	ESPN+
Monday, Nov. 3	5:30 p.m.	Georgia State at Eastern Michigan	ESPN+
Monday, Nov. 3	6:00 p.m.	Marshall at UMass	ESPN+
Monday, Nov. 3	6:00 p.m.	Troy at Kent State	ESPN+
Monday, Nov. 3	6:00 p.m.	James Madison at Akron	ESPN+
Monday, Nov. 3	6:00 p.m.	South Alabama at Toledo	ESPN+
Monday, Nov. 3	6:00 p.m.	App State at Central Michigan	ESPN+
Monday, Nov. 3	6:00 p.m.	Louisiana at Ball State	ESPN+
Monday, Nov. 3	6:00 p.m.	Texas State at Bowling Green	ESPN+
Monday, Nov. 3	6:00 p.m.	Arkansas State at Ohio	ESPN+
Monday, Nov. 3	6:00 p.m.	Old Dominion at Miami (Ohio)	ESPN+
Monday, Nov. 3	6:00 p.m.	Coastal Carolina at Western Michigan	ESPN+
Monday, Nov. 3	6:30 p.m.	Southern Miss at Buffalo	ESPN+
Monday, Nov. 3	7:00 p.m.	ULM at Northern Illinois	ESPN+

All Times CT