The upcoming 2026-27 men's basketball season will be the third for the Washington Huskies under head coach Danny Sprinkle.
There will be a lot of pressure on the Huskies and Sprinkle to perform this upcoming season. The former Utah State and Montana State head coach was hired ahead of the 2024-25 season, the program's first in the Big Ten conference. The team has been unable to post a winning record in those two seasons, finishing 13-18 and last in the Big Ten in the '24-25 season and 16-17 and 12th in the conference in the '25-26 season.
For Washington to turn its fortunes around in year three under Sprinkle, it will have to make it through the gauntlet that is the Big Ten slate. Before then, the team will have to get through its nonconference slate, which was announced Tuesday .
It was known before the announcement that two typical in-state, non-conference opponents, the Washington State Cougars and Seattle University Redhawks, wouldn't be on the schedule for UW this upcoming season.
Instead, one of those two teams, the Cougars, will be one of two exhibition games for the Huskies. The two sides will play Oct. 25 at Alaska Airlines Arena in Seattle.
Washington's other exhibition game will be against the Boise State Broncos on Oct. 17 at Extra Mile Arena in Boise, Idaho.
Here's a breakdown on the rest of the Huskies' nonconference schedule:
Nov. 2: vs. Colgate
Nov. 9: vs. Mississippi Valley State
Nov. 14: at Utah
Nov. 19: vs. Utah Tech
Nov. 23: vs. BYU (Maui Invitational)
Nov. 24: vs. Ole Miss/Clemson (Maui Invitational)
Nov. 25: To be determined (Maui Invitational)
Nov. 29: vs. Norfolk State
Dec. 8: vs. Southern Utah
Dec. 19: vs. Baylor (Climate Pledge Arena)
Dec. 28: vs. Cornell
Not including the exhibition games against Boise State and Washington State, 6-of-11 of Washington's nonconference games will be at home at Alaska Airlines Arena. Four of the games will be at neutral sites: three at the Maui Invitational in Maui, Hawaii, and one at Climate Pledge Arena (albeit still a "neutral location" in Seattle).
The only true away game for the Huskies will be on Nov. 14, which will be against Utah at the Jon M. Huntsman Center in Salt Lake City.
Sprinkle has done well against nonconference competition in his two years at Washingotn. He has an 11-29 record against Big Ten teams and an 18-6 record against no conference teams.
Tip-off times for games are still to-be-announced.
