STEPHENVILLE, Texas – Tarleton State released its 2026 men's basketball WAC schedule in conjunction with the conference on Wednesday afternoon.
The 2025-26 season will have seven total men's basketball programs in the WAC after the departure of Grand Canyon and Seattle U. For the first time since the Texans have joined the WAC, each team will play each other three times. The league changed the number of conference games to the third different number in as many seasons. Each team will play 18 conference games contrasting from 16 last season and 20 during the 2023-24 season. Each member will play nine road and nine home games. The Texans will be three teams (Southern Utah, UT Arlington and California Baptist) twice on the road and once at home and three teams (Abilene Christian, Utah Tech and Utah Valley) twice at home and once on the road.
"League games are always the most fun and the most meaningful as teams prepare for seeding in the conference tournament," said head coach Billy Gillispie entering his sixth season with the Texans. "The three games against each opponent will be challenging and different but 18 games is a good number of games to get a good gauge of the teams heading into the WAC tournament in Las Vegas. Everyone has the dream of advancing to the NCAA tournament. We are excited as we look forward to being a part of March Madness."
The Texans will debut their newly constructed arena, the EECU Center at the beginning of this season. Scheduled to open this fall, the EECU Center will offer seating for nearly 10,000 for concerts and up to 8,000 for basketball games. The $120 million two-story multipurpose arena will host events including NCAA Division I basketball, symposiums, conferences, concerts and conventions.
Mid-court sections 102 and 111 feature larger, padded seats. Team benches will be on the west side of the event center, in front of sections 101 and 103. The student section will be on the north end of the event center near the visiting team bench, covering sections 105, 106, 107, 108, 109 and 110. The main fan entrances will be on the northeast and northwest corners of the event center.
Season ticket packages for men's basketball only begin at $100 and can be purchased here. Combination season ticket packages for both Tarleton State Men's Basketball and Tarleton State Women's Basketball begin at $125, and those can only be purchased by calling the Tarleton State Ticket Office at 254-968-1832.
The Texans will open the 2026 conference slate with their final game of 2025 on Monday Dec. 29 at UT Arlington in the College Park Center. Last season, the squad played on ESPN2 on their trip to Arlington. The crew will play on New Year's Day for the second time since 1988. On Thursday, Jan. 1 Tarleton State will host its first men's basketball game on New Year's Day against the only opponent the Texans have ever played on Jan. 1, Utah Valley. The Purple and White will close out the week with a Saturday home contest against California Baptist (Jan. 3).
Tarleton State will continue the month of January with its third-consecutive home game on Jan. 8 against Abilene Christian. The Texans will then hit the road for three straight contests at Southern Utah (Jan. 15), at Utah Tech (Jan. 17) and at UT Arlington for the second time on Jan. 21. The Purple and White will then close out January with three home contests. On Jan. 24 The Texans will host ACU followed by Utah Valley (Jan. 29) and Utah Tech (Jan. 31).
The Purple and White will hit the road to start February with road contests at CBU (Feb. 5) and Southern Utah (Feb. 7). The Texans will travel on Valentine's Day to take on ACU. Tarleton State will then host Southern Utah (Feb. 19) and Utah Tech (Feb. 21). The Texans will be back on the road for the final time in the regular season and in the month of February with their first trip to Utah Valley (Feb. 26) and their second trip to CBU (Feb. 28). Tarleton State will close out the regular season on Thursday, March 5 against UT Arlington. The rest of the league will sum up its regular season on Saturday, March 7. The Texans will then travel to Las Vegas for the final Men's Basketball WAC Tournament with the opening round on March 11 and the title game set for March 14.
Fans interested in purchasing Texan Basketball season tickets can attend one of two open houses in three weeks, with the first set for Aug. 12 from 10 a.m. to noon, and the second set for Aug. 14 from 4-6 p.m. At both open houses, fans can speak with Tarleton State Ticket Office representatives, view seating options and purchase season tickets in person. A grand opening celebration for the EECU Center is slated for 10:30 a.m. Aug. 21.
Times for conference games as well as the entire non-conference schedule for the 2025-26 season will be released at a later date.
