SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — Drury men's basketball head coach Chris Foster announced the Panthers' 2025-26 schedule Thursday. DU's 28-game regular-season slate will feature 16 home dates at O'Reilly Family Event Center this winter, including four games versus 2025 NCAA postseason qualifiers.
The Panthers will open the campaign Nov. 14 against Ohio Dominican in the first of two games at the GLVC/G-MAC Challenge, hosted by Principia College in Elsah, Ill. Drury will also square off against Thomas More (Nov. 15) to close out the opening weekend of the season, before returning to Springfield for four consecutive home games at The O'. The Panthers will take on Ecclesia (Nov. 19) to kick off their home slate, followed by another non-conference tilt vs. Ozark Christian (Nov. 22).
Once again, Drury will host the DoubleTree by Hilton Thanksgiving Classic, which will include DU contests against NCAA Regional qualifier Concordia-St. Paul (Nov. 25) and Central Missouri (Nov. 26), while fellow GLVC member McKendree rounds out the field.
Drury will open GLVC play the following week at SBU (Dec. 1) for the first of three-straight conference road matchups. The Panthers will also travel to Truman State (Dec. 4) and Quincy (Dec. 6), before returning home to open a six-game home stand.
The Panthers wrap up the 2025 portion of their schedule with a pair of non-conference games against Central Christian College of the Bible (Dec. 17) and Arkansas-Fort Smith (Dec. 21) leading into a 12-day holiday break. DU returns to the court for GLVC contests against Rockhurst (Jan. 2) and William Jewell (Jan. 4). Next, the Panthers will take on the GLVC's reigning regular-season and tournament champions when Missouri S&T (Jan. 8) and Lincoln (Jan. 10) visit Springfield.
Road games with Maryville (Jan. 15) and McKendree (Jan. 17) follow, before Drury opens a busy home stretch with contests against Illinois Springfield (Jan. 22) and Indianapolis (Jan. 24). That set kicks off a four-week period that will see DU play six of its next 10 conference games at O'Reilly.
Following a road swing to Lewis (Jan. 29) and Upper Iowa (Jan. 31), the Panthers start the month of February by hosting Quincy (Feb. 5) and Truman State (Feb. 7), the latter game marking Drury's annual Homecoming contest.
Next, road games with William Jewell (Feb. 12) and Rockhurst (Feb. 14) in the Kansas City area await the Panthers. DU will wrap up its home schedule with matchups against SBU (Feb. 19) and Missouri-St. Louis (Feb. 26), before playing its final regular-season game against Missouri S&T (Feb. 28) in Rolla.
The GLVC Men's Basketball Championship Tournament will be held March 5-8, before the NCAA Division II Regional play gets underway the following week (March 13). The tournament will conclude with the championship game at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis on April 5.
The Panthers are coming off a 14-13 season under Foster, who enters his fifth year as Drury's head coach. DU returns six letterwinners, including a pair of starters in junior Zach Howell and sophomore Colin Hardrick. In his first season as a Panther, Howell averaged 13.2 points and 4.6 rebounds while knocking down a team-best 72 attempts from beyond the 3-point arc. Hardrick turned in a solid season as well, earning GLVC All-Defensive and All-Freshman Team honors after posting 10.2 points per outing and leading the Panthers in rebounding (6.7), assists (2.7), and steals (2.0).
Drury men's basketball 2025-26 season tickets are scheduled to go on sale on Aug. 1. Contact Ed Beach with any questions via email at ebeach@drury.edu or phone at (417) 873-4097.
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