California men’s basketball has its 2026-27 nonconference schedule solidified, with the Golden Bears hosting 11 opponents at Haas Pavilion in their 14-game stretch prior to ACC competition. Only two games will take the Bears out of state — a neutral meeting against Minnesota at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, S.D., and a visit to former conference-mate Utah.
In all, Cal’s nonconference stretch features five opponents that the Bears will be facing for the first time in program history: Adams State, Radford, Utah Tech, East Texas A&M and Alabama State. It will be just the second all-time meeting for Cal against Vanderbilt, Southeastern Louisiana and Northeastern. The longest-standing rivalry of them all is decisively with USC, with this season’s test marking the 273rd meeting between the Bears and Trojans in a series dating back to the 1916-17 season.
The Bears will have a couple early tuneups with exhibition games at LMU (Oct. 16) and at Oregon State (Oct. 24) before November brings Cal’s official season opener on November 2 against Adams State at Haas. That day will feature a doubleheader with the Cal women’s team, which hosts Washington State before the men clash with the Grizzlies. Two days later, Radford will be in the building to take on Cal in game two of the 2026-27 campaign.
On November 8, Cal has a marquee matchup against Houston in the inaugural Caesars Lake Tahoe Classic, where the Bears will again be joined by the Cal women at the event at the Tahoe Blue Event Center in Lake Tahoe, Nev.
Next, Cal has a four-game home stand that begins with another familiar former conference foe in USC. The Trojans and the Bears are set to square off on November 11 at Haas Pavilion. From there, Cal hosts Utah Tech (Nov. 14), East Texas A&M (Nov. 19) and Alabama State (Nov. 23) in Berkeley.
Cal’s road work picks up with the trip to Sioux Falls, S.D., to face Minnesota on Nov. 28 before going to Salt Lake City to take on the Utes on Dec. 2.
Nonconference action winds down with five straight games at Haas for the Bears, leading off with a Dec. 6 matchup against Vanderbilt. The next four visitors to Berkeley will be Southeastern Louisiana (Dec. 10), UC Riverside (Dec. 20) and Northeastern (Dec. 22).
Before year’s end, ACC competition will get underway. That conference schedule is set to be announced in the coming weeks, with all tip times and broadcast information slated to be finalized and announced in late September or early October.
