COLUMBIA, Mo. — Awaiting Missouri men’s basketball when the Tigers begin Southeastern Conference play this season? The defending national champion.
A Jan. 3 home game against Florida headlines Mizzou’s SEC schedule for the 2025-26 season, which the league announced Wednesday. MU upset the Gators on the road last year and later lost to UF in the SEC Tournament.
It’s part of a particularly thorny first four games of league action. After hosting Florida, Mizzou will visit Kentucky and Mississippi before hosting Final Four participant Auburn.
On the last Saturday of the season, the Tigers will host Arkansas on March 7.
Whether most weekday games will take place on Tuesdays or Wednesdays, plus tipoff times and TV designations, will be announced closer to the start of the season.
Missouri will enter SEC play after another fairly gentle nonconference schedule, which was announced earlier this summer. December rivalry games against Kansas and Illinois will be the toughest challenges, with the next-biggest nonconference matchups coming against fellow high-major programs Minnesota and Notre Dame.
The Tigers will be anchored this season, coach Dennis Gates’ fourth at MU, by key returners Mark Mitchell and Anthony Robinson II.
Mizzou went 10-8 in SEC play last year, finishing seventh out of 18 teams.
Mizzou men's basketball coach Dennis Gates speaks with the media on Thursday, March 20, 2025, after a first-round NCAA Tournament loss to Drake. (NCAA/Veritone)
