ACC Announces 2026-27 Men’s Basketball Conference Schedule

The 2026-27 season carries California men’s basketball into its third year of ACC competition, and the Golden Bears now have their conference schedule officially in place. The ACC released the full docket of dates and matchups for conference play today, with times and broadcast assignments yet to be determined.

The 18-team ACC field features eight teams that competed in the NCAA Tournament and two in the NIT last season. Cal’s NIT selection marked the Bears’ first postseason appearance since 2017. For this 2026-27 campaign, Cal will face all eight of those ACC teams that made NCAA tourney runs, including home-and-away meetings with NC State.

Once again, Cal squares off twice against longtime rival Stanford — first at Haas Pavilion on January 23, and later wrapping the regular season with a visit to the Cardinal’s home turf on March 6. The only ACC team that Cal will not face during the 18-game conference slate is Georgia Tech, which the Bears beat twice last season.

Cal’s ACC campaign opens with a trip to North Carolina to face the Tar Heels on Dec. 30 before a visit to Duke on Jan. 2. The Bears have their first conference action at Haas slated for Jan. 6 with a visit from Florida State, followed by Virginia in the house on Jan. 9.

Cal makes a multi-state journey to Louisville (Jan. 13) and Notre Dame (Jan. 16), then heads homeward for a three-game stand at Haas — against Stanford (Jan. 23), NC State (Jan. 27) and Syracuse (Jan. 30).

More road work takes the Bears to Dallas for a visit to SMU (Feb. 3) and to Clemson to take on the Tigers (Feb. 6). Then, Virginia Tech (Feb. 10) and Miami (Feb. 13) are in Berkeley before Cal heads out to Pitt (Feb. 17) and NC State (Feb. 20).

The Bears stick stateside for their final three games of the regular season, hosting Boston College (Feb. 24) and Wake Forest (Feb. 27) at Haas until it’s time to top things off with a drive to Palo Alto to face Stanford on March 6. ACC Tournament competition will take place March 9-13 at First Horizon Coliseum in Greensboro, N.C.

Under the direction of head coach Mark Madsen for the fourth season, Cal is coming off a strong 2025-26 campaign in which the Bears recorded the most wins in a season (22) since 2016 and their first postseason win since 2014. Last season's squad also notched eight games with 90-plus points scored and had five players ranked in top-100 national statistical categories. This year, Cal has nine returning Bears joined by nine newcomers ready for competition in 2026-27.