Personally, I would not have dropped the Big East women’s basketball schedule for the 2025-26 season on a Friday morning. But I am but a lowly and (usually) humble blogger, not a paid public relations professional, and so we have the schedule here on September 19th.
Before we get into the Marquette parts of this, I do want to note a couple of things from the league’s press release.
First: The Big East will play a 20 game double round robin schedule this year. This is a change from the past two seasons, when the league played 18 regular season games. I’m going to guess that this at least has a little bit to do with the start of the new television contract, which will send Big East women’s basketball games to Fox Sports, NBC Sports, TNT Sports, and ESPN+. In other words: There’s a lot of people paying a lot of money to get games, so we’re going to give them some games, no matter what UConn and Geno Auriemma say they want to do with their non-conference scheduling.
Second: The 2026 Big East women’s basketball tournament will be exclusive to Peacock, the streaming platform operated by NBC. I’m kind of surprised that Fox is giving up what has been historically over the past few years a coronation ceremony for UConn basketball, but that’s how negotiations go, I guess.
As for the Marquette parts of things, for the most part, Cara Consuegra’s team will be playing Wednesdays and Saturdays/Sundays. The regular nature of the schedule does seem to indicate a healthy amount of games going to streaming broadcasts, but we’ll have to wait and see what happens.
The opener is on the road against DePaul on December 4th, and yes, that’s before non-conference play wraps up. You have to get 20 games in before the conference tournament one way or another, and that’s how this is going to go. The conference home opener is on Sunday, December 7th against Butler.
From there, Marquette will play just one league game over the next 21 days, and that’s the yearly visit to Connecticut on December 17th. Big East play resumes on December 29th with a home game against St. John’s, and from there on out, it’s nothing but conference action. There are two more notable dates on the slate. First, Marquette will be in Cincinnati for a New Year’s Day clash with Xavier, and the Big East went out of its way to point out a three-pack of games that day. We’ll see if that turns into some kind of broadcasting package when the TV assignments are announced. Second, Marquette will host UConn on Valentine’s Day, which is Saturday, February 14th.
There are no “home games on the same day” conflicts with men’s basketball here, which is a welcome sight for someone like me with season tickets to both teams. There’s some road/home conflicts, but hey: I’m not traveling, so that’s fine.
Once Big East play begins in earnest right before the start of the new year, Marquette does have a couple of spots that we could call a bye in the schedule. They’ll have nearly a week off between hosting Creighton January 8 and visiting Seton Hall on January 14, then there will be more than a week off between hosting UConn and visiting Villanova on February 22nd. That’s nicely spread out relative to giving the Golden Eagles a break, so that’s good.
The run to the end of the season after that home game against UConn also seems to be favorable to Marquette. at Villanova, home for Xavier, and at Providence is two of three on the road, but at a glance, those should probably be pretty winnable games at the very least for MU. I think it’s safe to think of Marquette as a team with a goal of reaching the NCAA tournament this season, so getting to wrap up with Games You Can Win is pretty solid, and even the home game against Seton Hall right before the UConn game should be favored towards the Golden Eagles, too.
Lastly, Marquette never plays more than two games in a row either at home or on the road. In fact, it would seem that the trials of travel are in favor of MU, as they have a pair of back-to-back home games, but only go on the road for two straight one time. Those two are at St. John’s and at Butler, so that’s hardly as favorable as the old schedule of going out to New York for both St. John’s and Seton Hall in the same weekend, but bouncing back out to Indianapolis after coming home from NYC isn’t too bad.
Here’s the full Big East schedule, although there’s no times or television assignments yet.
DateOpponentThursday, December 4at DePaulSunday, December 7ButlerWednesday, December 17at ConnecticutMonday, December 29St. John’sThursday, January 1at XavierSunday, January 4VillanovaThursday, January 8CreightonWednesday, January 14at Seton HallSaturday, January 17GeorgetownWednesday, January 21at St. John’sSunday, January 25at ButlerWednesday, January 28DePaulSunday, February 1at GeorgetownWednesday, February 4ProvidenceSunday, February 8at CreightonWednesday, February 11Seton HallSaturday, February 14ConnecticutSunday, February 22at VillanovaWednesday, February 25XavierSunday, March 1at Providence
And, because there’s not a clear dividing line between non-conference play and Big East play, here’s the full schedule with start times for the home non-conference games and the Coconut Hoops games in Florida.
DateOpponentTime (CT)Monday, November 3Winthrop11:00 AMSaturday, November 8Wisconsin2:00 PMTuesday, November 11at MinnesotaTBDFriday, November 14Bowling Green6:30 PMWednesday, November 19at MilwaukeeTBDFriday, November 28vs Iowa State (Fort Myers, FL)10:00 AMSunday, November 30vs Gonzaga/Indiana (Fort Myers, FL)10am/12:30pmThursday, December 4at DePaulTBDSunday, December 7ButlerTBDSunday, December 14Le Moyne2:00 PMWednesday, December 17at ConnecticutTBDSaturday, December 20Truman StateNoonMonday, December 29St. John’sTBDThursday, January 1at XavierTBDSunday, January 4VillanovaTBDThursday, January 8CreightonTBDWednesday, January 14at Seton HallTBDSaturday, January 17GeorgetownTBDWednesday, January 21at St. John’sTBDSunday, January 25at ButlerTBDWednesday, January 28DePaulTBDSunday, February 1at GeorgetownTBDWednesday, February 4ProvidenceTBDSunday, February 8at CreightonTBDWednesday, February 11Seton HallTBDSaturday, February 14ConnecticutTBDSunday, February 22at VillanovaTBDWednesday, February 25XavierTBDSunday, March 1at ProvidenceTBD
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