Click Here For 2025-26 NEC Men's Basketball Schedule Grid Graphic
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Click Here For 2025-26 NEC Women's Basketball Schedule Grid
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Bridgewater, NJ -- The NEC today unveiled its 2025-26 men's and women's basketball conference schedules.
Schedule Notes
- Both the men’s and women’s basketball teams will play 18-game double round-robin schedules under the NEC’s 10-team alignment.
- The men and women will tipoff on Friday, January 2.
- The schedule runs nine straight weeks with no bye dates.
- The men's and women's schedules will mirror each other for the most part.
- The men will complete their regular season schedule on Saturday, February 28, while the women wrap on Thursday, March 5.
- The men's schedule will vary the first four weeks of the season before settling into the familiar Thursday/Saturday format the last five weeks of the season.
- Men's games will be played Saturday/Monday to coincide with Martin Luther King Day on January 17/19, while women’s teams will commemorate MLK Day during their January 17 contests.
- Aside from the first weekend of the season, all women's games will be contested on Thursday and Saturday. Single-game weeks are scheduled for February 14 and March 5.
- Game times are still to be determined.
- The 2025-26 NEC television slate will be announced in the fall.
- The NEC Basketball Championship will remain an eight-team playoff format with all games played at the home of the higher seed. After the quarterfinals, advancing teams will be reseeded so the highest remaining seed plays the lowest remaining seed in the semifinals.
- The 2025 NEC Men's Basketball Championship will take place on March 4, 7 & 10 at campus sites.
- The 2024 NEC Women's Basketball Championship will take place on March 9, 12 & 15 at campus sites.
- With Mercyhurst now postseason eligible, eight of the nine eligible teams will participate in this year’s NEC Tournament. NEC newcomer New Haven is not yet eligible for conference postseason play.
- Stonehill has completed its DI reclassification and is now eligible for the NCAA Tournament for the first time this season. Le Moyne and Mercyhurst are ineligible for the NCAA Tournament during their DI reclassification.
- If a reclassifying institution wins the NEC Tournament championship, the tournament runner-up will advance to the NCAA Tournament as the NEC’s automatic qualifier as per current policy. If two reclassifying members reach the conference final, the NEC will stage an "AQ Qualifier" game between the two non-advancing semifinal teams. This will serve as a decisive game to determine the team that will secure the NEC's spot in the NCAA Tournament. The "AQ Qualifer" game will occur this season if Le Moyne and Mercyhurst reach the NEC final.
About The Northeast Conference
Now entering its 45th season, the Northeast Conference is an NCAA Division I collegiate athletic association consisting of ten institutions of higher learning located throughout six states. Media coverage of the NEC extends to a number of the largest markets in the United States including New York (#1), Chicago (#3), Boston (#9). Hartford/New Haven (#32) and Syracuse (#88). Founded in 1981 as the basketball-only ECAC Metro Conference, the NEC has grown to sponsor 25 championship sports for men and women and now enjoys automatic access to 16 different NCAA Championships. NEC full member institutions include Central Connecticut, Chicago State, FDU, Le Moyne, LIU, Mercyhurst, New Haven, Saint Francis U, Stonehill and Wagner. For more information on the NEC, visit the league’s official website (
www.northeastconference.org) and digital network (
www.necfrontrow.com), or follow the league on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and TikTok, all @NECsports.