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 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Wright State | 12 | – | 4 | .750 | 17 | – | 10 | .630 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Oakland | 10 | – | 6 | .625 | 14 | – | 13 | .519 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Robert Morris | 10 | – | 7 | .588 | 18 | – | 10 | .643 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Green Bay | 10 | – | 7 | .588 | 15 | – | 13 | .536 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Purdue Fort Wayne | 9 | – | 7 | .563 | 15 | – | 12 | .556 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Detroit Mercy | 9 | – | 7 | .563 | 12 | – | 13 | .480 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Northern Kentucky | 8 | – | 8 | .500 | 16 | – | 11 | .593 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Milwaukee | 7 | – | 10 | .412 | 11 | – | 17 | .393 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Youngstown State | 6 | – | 10 | .375 | 13 | – | 14 | .481 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Cleveland State | 6 | – | 10 | .375 | 10 | – | 17 | .370 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| IU Indy | 3 | – | 14 | .176 | 7 | – | 21 | .250 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| † 2026 Horizon League tournament winner As of February 15, 2026 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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
Player of the Week awards
|
|
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.[19]
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 Round March 2 Campus Site ESPN+ | First Round March 4 Campus Sites ESPN+ | Second Round March 8 Indianapolis, IN ESPN+ | Semifinals March 9 Indianapolis, IN ESPNU/ESPN2 | Final March 10 Indianapolis, IN ESPN | |||||||||||||||||||
| 1 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| 10 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| 11 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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| 9 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| 3 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| 8 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| 4 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| 7 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| 5 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| 6 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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.
- ^ White, Rachel. "Under Armour #HLMBB Players of the Week (November 10)". horizonleague.org. Retrieved January 5, 2026.
- ^ White, Rachel. "Under Armour #HLMBB Players of the Week (November 17)". horizonleague.org.
- ^ White, Rachel. "Under Armour #HLMBB Players of the Week (November 24)". horizonleague.org. Retrieved January 5, 2026.
- ^ White, Rachel. "Under Armour #HLMBB Players of the Week (December 1)". horizonleague.org. Retrieved January 5, 2026.
- ^ White, Rachel. "Under Armour #HLMBB Players of the Week (December 8)". horizonleague.org. Retrieved January 5, 2026.
- ^ White, Rachel. "Under Armour #HLMBB Players of the Week (December 15)". horizonleague.org. Retrieved January 5, 2026.
- ^ White, Rachel. "Under Armour #HLMBB Players of the Week (December 22)". horizonleague.org. Retrieved January 5, 2026.
- ^ White, Rachel. "Under Armour #HLMBB Players of the Week (December 29)". horizonleague.org. Retrieved January 5, 2026.
- ^ White, Rachel. "Under Armour #HLMBB Players of the Week (January 5)". horizonleague.org. Retrieved January 5, 2026.
- ^ White, Rachel. "Under Armour #HLMBB Players of the Week (January 12)". horizonleague.org. Retrieved January 14, 2026.
- ^ White, Rachel. "Under Armour #HLMBB Players of the Week (January 19)". horizonleague.org. Retrieved January 21, 2026.
- ^ White, Rachel. "Under Armour #HLMBB Players of the Week (January 26)". horizonleague.org. Retrieved January 28, 2026.
- ^ White, Rachel. "Under Armour #HLMBB Players of the Week (February 2)". horizonleague.org. Retrieved February 2, 2026.
- ^ Gentile, Drew (September 26, 2025). "Horizon League details reasons for changes to postseason tournament". Yahoo Sports. Retrieved October 7, 2025.