Mount St. Mary’s Men’s Basketball Unveils Challenging 2026-27 Non-Conference Schedule
Mount St. Mary’s men’s basketball will not have much time to ease into the 2026-27 season.
The Mountaineers announced an 11-game non-conference schedule that features road trips to Xavier, Virginia Tech, Creighton and Nebraska, along with five regular-season home games at Knott Arena. Mount St. Mary’s will also play Navy in an exhibition game on Oct. 28 before officially opening the season at Xavier on Nov. 2.
For head coach Donny Lind and the Mountaineers, the schedule provides a mixture of major-conference road tests, regional rivalries and several opportunities to play in front of the home crowd in Emmitsburg.
The Metro Conference portion of Mount St. Mary’s schedule has not yet been announced.
Mount St. Mary’s 2026-27 Non-Conference Schedule
- Oct. 28 — vs. Navy (Exhibition)
- Nov. 2 — at Xavier
- Nov. 6 — vs. Loyola Maryland
- Nov. 13 — at Virginia Tech
- Nov. 17 — vs. Lehigh
- Nov. 20 — vs. Western Michigan
- Nov. 24 — at Morgan State
- Nov. 28 — vs. Drexel
- Dec. 10 — at Coppin State
- Dec. 15 — at Creighton
- Dec. 17 — at Nebraska
- Dec. 20 — vs. Central Penn
Catholic Clash returns to Knott Arena
After starting the regular season at Xavier, Mount St. Mary’s returns to Emmitsburg on Nov. 6 for one of the most recognizable games on its schedule.
The Mountaineers will host Loyola Maryland in the 192nd edition of the Catholic Clash, continuing a series between two Maryland Catholic universities that stretches back generations. According to Mount Athletics, it will be the earliest date on which the programs have ever met and only the fourth time the rivalry has been played during November.
Mount St. Mary’s has also enjoyed recent success in the series and will enter the game looking for its fourth victory in five meetings against the Greyhounds.
The Mount won last season’s matchup in Baltimore, defeating Loyola 81-73 on Dec. 13, 2025.
That makes the 2026 meeting one of the most appealing home games on the early-season schedule and gives Maryland basketball fans another in-state matchup to follow.
Major road tests begin immediately
Opening the season at Xavier will give Mount St. Mary’s an immediate challenge.
The Nov. 2 matchup will be the first meeting between the programs since 1990. Their last meeting produced plenty of offense, with Xavier defeating the Mountaineers 103-96.
Eleven days later, Mount St. Mary’s travels to Blacksburg to face Virginia Tech on Nov. 13. It will be the sixth meeting between the programs.
Games such as Xavier and Virginia Tech should provide Lind with a quick indication of how his roster measures up against high-level competition before the Mount reaches the heart of its schedule.
The Mountaineers faced a similarly difficult collection of road opponents last season, including West Virginia, Cincinnati, Maryland and Ohio State. Mount St. Mary’s pushed Maryland to the final minutes before falling 95-90 in College Park.
That experience should give the program some familiarity with challenging early-season environments.
Strong home stretch in November
Following Virginia Tech, Mount St. Mary’s receives a considerably more favorable stretch from a travel perspective.
The Mountaineers host Lehigh on Nov. 17, Western Michigan on Nov. 20 and Drexel on Nov. 28, with only a Nov. 24 trip to Morgan State breaking up the homestand.
Lehigh will make its first appearance at Knott Arena since 2018.
Western Michigan, meanwhile, represents one of three first-time opponents on the Mount’s 2026-27 schedule. The game also serves as a return matchup after Mount St. Mary’s traveled to Kalamazoo last season and fell to the Broncos, 83-60.
Drexel’s trip to Emmitsburg carries even more historical significance.
The Dragons have not played at Mount St. Mary’s since 1988. That matchup is scheduled for a 4 p.m. start on Nov. 28, while the Mount’s other announced home games are scheduled for 7 p.m.
Last season, Drexel defeated Mount St. Mary’s 75-67 in Philadelphia.
Morgan State and Coppin State add Maryland flavor
The Mount will also make two trips to Baltimore.
Mount St. Mary’s faces Morgan State on Nov. 24 before visiting Coppin State on Dec. 10.
The Morgan State matchup will be the 12th meeting between the programs, while Mount St. Mary’s and Coppin State will meet for the ninth time.
Those games give the non-conference slate three Maryland opponents when Loyola is included and provide MSB readers with multiple matchups involving programs within the state.
Scheduling those games also gives Maryland’s Division I programs opportunities to play one another rather than filling every non-conference date with opponents from outside the region.
Creighton-Nebraska trip highlights December
The most difficult portion of the schedule may arrive in mid-December.
Mount St. Mary’s heads west for consecutive games against Creighton on Dec. 15 and Nebraska on Dec. 17.
The two-game trip through the Great Plains will put the Mountaineers in hostile environments against programs capable of presenting significant size, athleticism and depth challenges.
Nebraska is also one of the three first-time opponents on Mount St. Mary’s schedule.
Playing Creighton and Nebraska just two days apart will test more than talent. The Mountaineers will need to handle travel, preparation and recovery in a short window, which could provide valuable experience before conference play becomes the primary focus.
Mount St. Mary’s returns home following the trip and concludes non-conference play against Central Penn on Dec. 20.
Mount looking to take another step under Donny Lind
Mount St. Mary’s finished the 2025-26 season 15-17 overall. The Mountaineers closed the regular season by winning six of their final nine games before Siena ended their season with a 63-58 loss in Atlantic City on March 7.
The final record did not fully illustrate how competitive the Mount could be.
Mount St. Mary’s defeated Loyola, Howard, Iona twice, Rider twice and closed the regular season with a convincing 69-47 road victory over Fairfield. The Mountaineers also came within five points of beating Maryland on the road.
The program enters 2026-27 with Lind continuing to lead the Mountaineers. The current roster includes a mixture of returning players and newcomers as the staff attempts to push Mount St. Mary’s further up the Metro Conference standings.
A schedule built to test the Mount
There are few easy stretches on this non-conference schedule.
Mount St. Mary’s opens at Xavier, travels to Virginia Tech less than two weeks later and eventually faces Creighton and Nebraska on the same road trip. The Mount also gets meaningful regional games against Loyola Maryland, Morgan State and Coppin State.
At the same time, five regular-season games at Knott Arena give the Mountaineers more opportunities to build momentum at home.
The Catholic Clash against Loyola, Drexel’s first trip to Emmitsburg since 1988 and Western Michigan’s first-ever visit give Mount fans several intriguing dates before conference play begins.
For Lind and the Mountaineers, the formula is straightforward: use a demanding November and December to prepare for the games that will ultimately determine their postseason path.
With Xavier, Virginia Tech, Creighton and Nebraska waiting on the road, Mount St. Mary’s will certainly have opportunities to find out exactly where it stands.
Maryland Sports Blog will continue to follow Mount St. Mary’s men’s basketball throughout the 2026-27 season.
