SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – The 2026-27 men’s basketball season officially tips off for the Summit League Monday at 5 p.m. CT. All eight league members will be in action throughout the opening week, with 21 games on the slate.
Reigning Summit League Champion North Dakota State opens its season on its home floor, welcoming Minnesota Crookston to Fargo at 7 p.m., on The Summit League Network.
Four games will feature Summit League programs against Power Four programs over the first week. North Dakota will open its season on Monday at Minnesota. South Dakota State travels to Kansas State on Tuesday night. On Friday, St. Thomas gets its shot at Minnesota and Omaha travels to BYU.
Game | Stream | Central Time
Monday, Nov. 2
Mount Marty at South Dakota | SLN | 5 p.m.
St. Thomas at Presbyterian | ESPN+ | 6 p.m.
Kansas City at Creighton | ESPN+ | 7 p.m.
Minnesota Crookston at North Dakota State | SLN | 7 p.m.
Mid-America Christian at Omaha | SLN | 7 p.m.
Oral Roberts at Central Arkansas | ESPN+ | 7:30 p.m.
North Dakota at Minnesota | B1G+ | 8 p.m.
Tuesday, Nov. 3
South Dakota State at Kansas State | ESPN+ | 7 p.m.
Wednesday, Nov. 4
Northern Kentucky at South Dakota | SLN | 7 p.m.
North Dakota State at Saint Mary’s | ESPN+ | 9 p.m.
Friday, Nov. 6
St. Thomas at Minnesota | Peacock | 7 p.m.
Southern Illinois at Kansas City | SLN | 7:30 p.m.
Omaha at BYU | ESPN+ | 8 p.m.
Briar Cliff at South Dakota State | SLN | 8:30 p.m.
North Dakota State at San Francisco | ESPN+ | 9 p.m.
Saturday, Nov. 7
North Dakota at Winthrop | ESPN+ | 11 a.m.
Cal State Fullerton at South Dakota | SLN | 1 p.m.
Omaha at Utah State | YouTube | 3 p.m.
Northwestern Oklahoma St. at Oral Roberts | SLN | 7 p.m.
Sunday, Nov. 8
Green Bay at St. Thomas | SLN | 1 p.m.
North Dakota State at CSU Bakersfield | ESPN+ | 5 p.m.
Monday, Nov. 9
Kansas City at Jacksonville | ESPN+ | 7 p.m.
North Dakota at Clemson | ACCNX | 6 p.m.
Tuesday, Nov. 10
Houston Christian at South Dakota | SLN | 7 p.m.
York (Neb.) at Omaha | SLN | 7 p.m.
Key: ESPN+ (ESPN Plus), SLN (Summit League Network), B1G+ (Big Ten Network Plus), ACCNX (ACC Network Xtra)
AROUND THE LEAGUE
• Preseason favorite North Dakota State looks to defend its throne after the Bison won both the regular season and tournament crowns in 2025-26.
• The Bison will need to replace all but three players who stepped on the court for them last season, but do return an All-League honorable mention honoree in Andy Stefonowicz. He averaged 9.1 ppg and 4.8 apg last season and scored 11 points while grabbing six boards in the Summit League Championship game last season.
• The Bison will also look for contributions from Kaden Tate, a NJCAA All-American from Des Moine Area CC. He helped lead DMACC to a national tournament while averaging 10.4 ppg, 9.1 rpg, 2.2 bpg and 2.0 spg.
• St. Thomas checked in at No. 2 in the preseason poll, finishing just behind NDSU, and aims to reach the NCAA DI Tournament for the first time in program history.
• The Tommies were the only team with a trio of players on the preseason all-league first team as sharp-shooting forward Carter Bjerke joined Austin Herro and Kendall Blue. Bjerke shot 53 percent from 3-point range and was tied for third among Summit League players with 44 makes in Summit play.
• Blue returns to the Tommies after spending last season with Nebraska, reaching the Sweet 16 in his lone season. He leads all League players with 1,013 career points while competing in The Summit League.
• Checking in at No. 3 is South Dakota State, looking to bounce back after going 7-9 in conference play a season ago.
• Joe Sayler was selected as the Preseason Player of the Year and leads all Summit League returners with 17.9 ppg while knocking down 41 3-pointers at a 47.1 percent clip. The junior also averaged 3.4 rebounds per game and dished out 33 assists
• He will be joined by Jessie Van Kalsbeek, the 2025-26 NAIA National Player of the year after averaging 27.8 points and 12.4 rebounds per game at Northwestern (Iowa).
• Checking in at No. 4 is Omaha, the 2024-25 League champions who finished 8-8 in conference play last season.
• Grant Stubblefield returns and was selected to the preseason all-League second team after leading the Mavericks in assists (86) and steals (44) last year while scoring 9.3 ppg.
• After missing all of last season, Isaac Ondekane is back and looks to return to form after starting all but one game in Omaha’s 2024-25 championship run.
• South Dakota was picked fifth in the preseason poll in Eric Peterson’s fifth season.
• The Coyotes will look to replace their top six scorers from last season but will look for growth from preseason all-League second team selection Vince Buzelis. Buzelis averaged 9.3 ppg and 4.6 rpg last season.
• North Dakota was picked sixth after reaching The Summit League championship game last season.
• Zach Kraft leads returners with 8.1 points per game last season while shooting 39.9 percent from deep in 34 games, including 25 starts.
• In seventh comes Oral Roberts in Kory Barnett’s second season at the helm.
• The Golden Eagles return star power to lead the charge in senior Connor Dow. Dow knocked down 81 3-pointers throughout last season, the most among returners, while averaging 13.1 points and 4.4 rebounds per game.
• The only team to see change at the helm checks in at No. 8 as Mark Turgeon steps in to lead Kansas City.
• Turgeon returns to coaching after four seasons away, most recently coaching at Maryland from 2011-2022. He holds a 476-275 career record and has reached the NCAA Tournament 10 times in 24 seasons.
• His team will be led by Jaylen Smith. Smith averaged 9.1 points per game en route to SoCon Sixth Man of the Year honors while at East Tennessee State.
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