Men's Basketball 8/15/2025 12:00:00 PM

Men’s Basketball Announces 2025-26 Non-Conference Schedule

2025-26 NON-CONFERENCE SCHEDULE | BUY SEASON TICKETS

Five non-league home games, featuring a rivalry game against cross-town rival Buffalo at the Koessler Athletic Center, highlight the 2025-26 Canisius men's basketball non-conference schedule released by head coach Jim Christian on Friday.

In all, the Golden Griffins are set to play 11 non-conference games this season, starting with the 2025-26 season-opener at Dayton on Nov. 3. That game will mark the 21st time the Griffs have played the Flyers, but it will serve as the first meeting between the two schools since Feb. 15, 1986. The game at Dayton will also be the first of the Blue and Gold's four games against member schools from the Atlantic 10 Conference.

On Nov. 6, Canisius will open the home portion of its 2025-26 slate with a game against Division III member Allegheny. The Griffs will close out the first week of the regular season with a road game at the Reilly Center in Olean, N.Y., against long-time rival St. Bonaventure on Nov. 8.

After hosting Mercyhurst at the Koessler Athletic Center on Nov. 12, Canisius will travel south to take on defending Big South Conference champion High Point on Nov. 17. That game against the Panthers will mark the Blue and Gold's second trip to High Point in the last three seasons.

For the first time since 2021-22, Canisius will host an in-season multi-team exempt (MTE) event when the Griffs welcome UMES and Binghamton to the Koessler Athletic Center for the Queen City Classic. On Nov. 21, Canisius will face off with UMES for the first time in program history, and then on Nov. 22, UMES will play Binghamton in a neutral-site contest on the court at the Koessler Athletic Center. The Queen City Classic will conclude on Nov. 23 when the Blue and Gold hosts Binghamton.

Canisius wraps up the first month of the season at home on Nov. 29, when the Griffs welcome cross-town rival Buffalo back to the Koessler Athletic Center for the first time since the 2018-19 campaign. The game against Buffalo will be the 55th all-time meeting in the series' history, and it will serve as the first meeting between the two programs since Nov. 27, 2022.

Canisius' final three non-league games will be played on the road, starting Dec. 13 at Maine. On Dec. 16, the Griffs will play at Rhode Island, the team's first game against the Rams since the 1983-84 campaign. The Blue and Gold's final scheduled non-conference contest of the season is set for Dec. 22, when the Griffs travel to play at Duquesne in Pittsburgh, Pa.

The full 2025-26 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) schedule will be released in the next few weeks. As was the case in 2024-25, the 2025-26 MAAC slate will feature an unbalanced 20-game schedule, which will start the weekend of Dec. 5-7 and then continue sometime in late December after the Christmas holiday break. The 2026 MAAC Men's Basketball Championship tournament will be held March 5-10 at Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, N.J.

NON-CONFERENCE SCHEDULE NOTES
• The year marks the second consecutive year, and the fourth time since 2019-20, where the Griffs are slated to play 11 non-league games.
• Canisius will open the schedule in the state of Ohio for the first time since 2008-09, when the team started that year at Akron.
• The Nov. 3 start date will be the earliest in program history, and it will mark the first time the Griffs have started the year against an Atlantic 10 school (other than St. Bonaventure) since the Blue and Gold began the 1988-89 season at Saint Joseph's.
• The Griffs' home opener against Alleghany on Nov. 6 serves as the earliest home game in the program's 123-year history.
• The Blue and Gold will play host to Mercyhurst at the Koessler Athletic Center for the first time since Dec. 1, 1984.
• UMES will be the 72nd different NCAA Division I school to play a game against Canisius at the Koessler Athletic Center.
• The game against Buffalo at the Koessler Athletic Center on Nov. 29 will be the 15th all-time meeting between the two programs on Main Street, and the first since the 2018-19 campaign. Canisius is 9-5 against the Bulls in its on-campus home since 1978-79.
• Canisius will play at Maine for the 10th time in series history, and for the first time since Dec. 30, 2008.
• The game at Rhode Island will be a homecoming for Griffs' head coach Jim Christian, who graduated from Rhode Island in 1988. Christian is 2-1 in his head coaching career against his alma mater.
• The Griffs will play at Duquesne for the first time since Nov. 18, 2016. Each of the last three meetings between Canisius and Duquesne have been played in Pittsburgh.

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