The tough challenges begin immediately for the Indiana State women's basketball team, with the Sycamores facing defending Missouri Valley Conference champion Murray State in their conference opener Dec. 18 in Hulman Center.
ISU and the MVC released the 2026-27 schedules on Friday morning.
The Sycamores set to play 20 conference games over the course of the upcoming college season. They'll be trying to improve on last season's records of 10-22 overall and 5-15 in the MVC.
ISU will play each of the other 10 league opponents home and away, starting with the Dec. 18 home contest vs. Murray State. The Sycamores follow that with back-to-back road games at UIC (Dec. 20) and Valparaiso (Dec. 29) before kicking off a three-game homestand on New Year's Eve against Northern Iowa.
The Sycamores begin 2027 inside Hulman Center with visits from Drake (Jan. 3) and Bradley (Jan. 7) before heading to the Music City to face Belmont (Jan. 9). Illinois State comes to town Jan. 15.
Then the Sycamores will embark on a four-game road trip starting Jan. 17 at Southern Illinois. Indiana State takes on the Iowa road swing Jan. 22 and 24 at Drake and Northern Iowa, respectively, before closing its road trip down US 41 at Evansville on Jan. 28. The Trees close the month of January at home against UIC (Jan. 30), the first of three straight games inside Hulman Center for the Blue and White.
Indiana State opens February with home games against Belmont (Feb. 4) and Valparaiso (Feb. 7), before heading to central Illinois to face Bradley (Feb. 12) and Illinois State (Feb. 14). The Sycamores' Senior Day will come one week later against in-state foe Evansville on Feb. 21, with the Trees' final home game being Feb. 25 against Southern Illinois. Indiana State closes its regular season the same way it opens conference play, as the Sycamores play at Murray State on Feb. 27. The 2027 MVC Tournament will take place March 3-7 in St. Louis, coinciding with the men's basketball championship.
Indiana State previously announced a 12-game non-conference slate, which features home games against IU Indy (Nov. 10), Wright State (Nov. 13), Bellarmine (Nov. 17), Chicago State (Nov. 29) and SIU Edwardsville (Dec. 2). The Sycamores will travel to Northern Illinois (Nov. 2), Seton Hall (Nov. 6), Rutgers (Nov. 8), Southeast Missouri State (Nov. 19), Miami (Ohio) (Dec. 6), Eastern Illinois (Dec. 9) and Butler (Dec. 13) during the non-conference portion of the schedule.
Tip times and broadcast designations for Indiana State's full schedule will be announced at a later date and time.
Indiana State has a rebuilt roster, with 13 newcomers and two returnees for coach Marc Mitchell's third season. They include one freshman, seven junior college transfers and five four-year college transfers. 10 different states — Alabama, Arizona, California, Illinois, Kansas, Missouri, Nevada, New York, Texas and Wisconsin — are represented in the signing class, which includes seven guards and three forwards.
The incoming class of Sycamores joins a pair of returners in Jayci Allen and Amerie Flowers. Flowers averaged 7.9 points and 5.9 rebounds per game last season, ranking in the top 15 in the MVC in rebounds despite playing just 15 minutes per game. Allen was among the top 3-point shooters in the conference in 2025-26, averaging 9.4 points and 4.1 rebounds per game while leading the Sycamores with 50 3-pointers.
