2025–26 Horizon League men's basketball season
| 2025–26 Horizon League men's basketball season | |
|---|---|
| League | NCAA Division I |
| Sport | Men's basketball |
| Teams | 11 |
| TV partner(s) | ESPN+ ESPN2 ESPNU ESPN |
| Regular season | |
| Tournament | |
| Conf. | Overall | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | W | L | PCT | W | L | PCT | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Milwaukee | 2 | – | 0 | 1.000 | 6 | – | 6 | .500 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Oakland | 2 | – | 0 | 1.000 | 6 | – | 7 | .462 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Robert Morris | 2 | – | 1 | .667 | 10 | – | 4 | .714 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Youngstown State | 2 | – | 1 | .667 | 8 | – | 5 | .615 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Purdue Fort Wayne | 2 | – | 1 | .667 | 8 | – | 6 | .571 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Detroit Mercy | 2 | – | 1 | .667 | 5 | – | 7 | .417 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Wright State | 1 | – | 1 | .500 | 6 | – | 7 | .462 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Northern Kentucky | 1 | – | 2 | .333 | 9 | – | 5 | .643 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Green Bay | 1 | – | 2 | .333 | 6 | – | 8 | .429 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Cleveland State | 0 | – | 3 | .000 | 4 | – | 10 | .286 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| IU Indy | 0 | – | 3 | .000 | 4 | – | 10 | .286 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| † 2026 Horizon League tournament winner As of December 22, 2025 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The 2025–26 Horizon League men's basketball season began with practices in September 2025 and will end with the 2026 Horizon League men's basketball tournament in March 2026. This is the 46th season for Horizon League men's basketball, and the final season before the conference expands with Northern Illinois rejoining beginning in 2026–27.
Head coaches
Coaching changes
- On March 30, 2025, Cleveland State head coach Daniyal Robinson was hired as the head coach of North Texas.[1] On April 5, the Vikings hired Missouri assistant Rob Summers, who was an assistant at Cleveland State from 2019 to 2022, as their new head coach.[2]
- On May 13, IU Indy fired first-year head coach Paul Corsaro after a 10–22 finish.[3] On May 27, the Jaguars announced Division II West Liberty head coach Ben Howlett as his replacement.[4]
Coaches
| Team | Head coach | Previous job | Season | Overall record |
Horizon record |
NCAA Tournaments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cleveland State | Rob Summers | Missouri (asst.) | 1st | 0–0 (–) | 0–0 (–) | 0 |
| Detroit Mercy | Mark Montgomery | Michigan State (asst.) | 2nd | 8–24 (.250) | 4–16 (.200) | 0 |
| Green Bay | Doug Gottlieb | none | 2nd | 4–28 (.125) | 2–18 (.100) | 0 |
| IU Indy | Ben Howlett | West Liberty | 1st | 0–0 (–) | 0–0 (–) | 0 |
| Milwaukee | Bart Lundy | Queens | 4th | 63–38 (.624) | 40–20 (.667) | 0 |
| Northern Kentucky | Darrin Horn | Texas (asst.) | 7th | 114–76 (.600) | 75–41 (.647) | 2 |
| Oakland | Greg Kampe | Toledo (asst.) | 42nd | 710–544 (.566) | 128–81 (.612) | 1 |
| Purdue Fort Wayne | Jon Coffman | IPFW (asst.) | 12th | 197–154 (.561) | 104–92 (.531) | 0 |
| Robert Morris | Andrew Toole | Robert Morris (asst.) | 16th | 252–241 (.511) | 154–120 (.562) | 3 |
| Wright State | Clint Sargent | Wright State (asst.) | 2nd | 15–18 (.455) | 8–12 (.400) | 0 |
| Youngstown State | Ethan Faulkner | Youngstown State | 2nd | 21–13 (.618) | 13–7 (.650) | 0 |
Notes:
- Season number includes 2025–26 season.
- Records are prior to 2025–26 season.
Preseason
Preseason coaches poll
| 2025–26 Horizon League Preseason Coaches Poll[5] | ||
|---|---|---|
| Rank | Team (First Place Votes) | Points |
| 1. | Milwaukee (24) | 428 |
| 2. | Oakland (7) | 384 |
| 3. | Youngstown State (2) | 364 |
| 4. | Robert Morris (8) | 345 |
| 5. | Purdue Fort Wayne (1) | 287 |
| 6. | Northern Kentucky | 274 |
| 7. | Wright State | 221 |
| 8. | Cleveland State (2) | 217 |
| 9. | Detroit Mercy | 176 |
| 10. | IU Indy | 115 |
| 11. | Green Bay | 93 |
Preseason All-Horizon League
| First team | Second team |
|---|---|
| Orlando Lovejoy, Detroit Mercy | Faizon Fields, Milwaukee |
| Marcus Hall, Green Bay | Seth Hubbard, Milwaukee |
| Amar Aguillard, Milwaukee | Dan Gherezgher, Northern Kentucky |
| Tuburu Naivalurua, Oakland | Corey Hadnot II, Purdue Fort Wayne |
| Cris Carroll, Youngstown State | DeSean Goode, Robert Morris |
| Preseason Player of the Year: Tuburu Naivalurua, Oakland | |
Regular season
Postseason
Horizon League tournament
The conference tournament will be played from March 2 to March 10, 2026.
The tournament will adopt a new format in 2026; instead of a traditional 11-team bracket with reseeding after each round, the new format includes a play-in for the bottom two teams by conference record, then a ten-team first round on campus sites. The five winners then advance to the final three rounds at Corteva Coliseum in Indianapolis. The bottom two teams by seeding play in the second round, while the remaining three teams are reseeded into the semifinals, with the winners advancing to the finals.[6]
Teams are seeded by conference record, with ties broken by record between the tied teams followed by record against the regular-season champion, if necessary.
| Play-in March 2 Campus site | First round March 4 Campus sites | Second round March 8 Indianapolis, IN | Semifinals March 9 Indianapolis, IN | Championship March 10 Indianapolis, IN | |||||||||||||||||||
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| 10 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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References
- ^ Na, Justin (March 30, 2025). "North Texas men's basketball announces hiring of Cleveland State's Daniyal Robinson". NTDaily.com. Retrieved October 7, 2025.
- ^ pluto, terry (April 9, 2025). "Cleveland State names new men's basketball coach, a familiar face — Terry Pluto". cleveland. Retrieved October 7, 2025.
- ^ Athletics, IU Indy (September 26, 2025). "IU INDIANAPOLIS ANNOUNCES LEADERSHIP CHANGE IN MEN'S BASKETBALL PROGRAM". IU Indy Athletics. Retrieved October 7, 2025.
- ^ Holdaway, Ed; Athletics, IU Indy (September 26, 2025). "HOWLETT NAMED IU INDIANAPOLIS HEAD MEN'S BASKETBALL COACH". IU Indy Athletics. Retrieved October 7, 2025.
- ^ White, Rachel (October 8, 2025). "Milwaukee Earns Top Spot in 2025-26 Under Armour #HLMBB Preseason Poll". horizonleague.org. Retrieved October 8, 2024.
- ^ Gentile, Drew (September 26, 2025). "Horizon League details reasons for changes to postseason tournament". Yahoo Sports. Retrieved October 7, 2025.