Benson unveils 2025-26 men’s basketball slate
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Looking for a second straight NCAA tournament berth, Carson-Newman head men’s basketball coach Chuck Benson has scheduled tough again for the 2025-26 campaign.
VIDEO: Chuck Benson Interview
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Looking for a second straight NCAA tournament berth, Carson-Newman head men's basketball coach Chuck Benson has scheduled tough again for the 2025-26 campaign.
The Eagles take on half of the field that made last year's NCAA Southeast Regional in the 2025-26 campaign.
C-N opens the season Nov. 15-16 in Holt Fieldhouse with a SAC/Conference Carolinas Challenge. This marks the sixth consecutive season Carson-Newman begins the year playing King and Lees-McRae.
"It's something that's worked well for our conference and for Conference Carolinas," head coach Chuck Benson said. "With the four teams – it makes a lot of sense geographically and it's now sort of become a thing that we all I think just look forward to. With the portal stuff, we really don't know what we'll be seeing from Lees and King, but you know, the same could be said about our team having eight newcomers."
With the current configuration of C-N, UVA Wise, Lees-McRae and King, Carson-Newman has only gone 2-0 in the classic twice, but has done so in back-to-back years.
C-N continues non-conference play to close the month of November with a slew of Peachbelt schools. C-N visits Greenwood, S.C., and Dahlonega, Ga., to take on Lander and North Georgia, respectively on Nov. 22 and 26. The Eagles return home Nov. 29 to match wits with Augusta. The Jaguars are coming off an NCAA tournament berth, while Lander and UNG are two years removed from postseason appearances.
"All these are in November obviously before we get into conference play," Benson said. "We wanted to give ourselves the best possible competition that we could realistically put on the schedule early and you know, I think it worked well. Again, in this day and age it's so hard to really know what other teams have because of the portal. But knowing the three head coaches at North Georgia, Lander and Augusta, I know they're going to have strong rosters. I know that it's going to it'll take our best to come out victorious. But we don't go into it necessarily thinking in that regard. We go into it looking as a gauge to see where we are and what we are prior to jumping into conference play."
Carson-Newman hasn't played Augusta since it was known as Augusta State back in 2006-07. The Eagles lost to the Jaguars twice that year, but lead the all-time series 6-4. Lander has a 4-3 edge in that series, while the Eagles lead the slate with North Georgia 3-1.
Carson-Newman's final non-conference game is on New Year's Eve against old VSAC rival Tennessee Wesleyan and marks the Eagles' only game this season against an NAIA school.
Conference play starts with back-to-back road trips to Coker and Tusculum to start the month of December.
"There's a lot of change in our league right now," Benson said. "Of course, Limestone departs. Head coaching change at Coker, a head coaching change at Mars Hill, head coaching change at LMU. There was lots of movement with the transfer portal. So there's a lot more unknown than known about our conference right now. But it doesn't matter. You just know the quality of the coaching, the quality of the institutions, the quality of the rosters - you know it's going to be a challenge. We know that after we get through November and we sort of get through some of those early non-conference challenges. We know that our best will be required and that will be in December."
The Eagles are home for four of their final five games on the year, culminating with senior day on Feb. 28 against Lenoir-Rhyne.
Carson-Newman games will be broadcast on the Eagle Sports Network. All games home and away can be heard on MIX 105.5 (WSEV-FM, Sevierville) and online at cneagles.com/live. A video stream is available for home games with a subscription to FloSports at cneagles.com/FloMBB.
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Date |
Opponent |
Status |
Notes |
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Nov 15, 2025 |
vs King (Tenn.) |
7:30 PM EST~ |
SAC/Conference Carolinas Challenge |
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Nov 16, 2025 |
vs Lees-McRae |
3:00 PM EST~ |
SAC/Conference Carolinas Challenge |
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Nov 22, 2025 |
at Lander |
2:00 PM EST~ |
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Nov 26, 2025 |
at North Georgia |
2:00 PM EST~ |
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Nov 29, 2025 |
vs Augusta |
4:00 PM EST~ |
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Dec 06, 2025 |
at Coker |
4:00 PM EST*~ |
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Dec 10, 2025 |
at Tusculum |
7:30 PM EST*~ |
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Dec 13, 2025 |
vs Anderson (S.C.) |
4:00 PM EST*~ |
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Dec 17, 2025 |
vs Virginia-Wise |
7:30 PM EST*~ |
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Dec 20, 2025 |
at Wingate |
2:00 PM EST*~ |
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Dec 31, 2025 |
vs Tenn. Wesleyan |
2:00 PM EST~ |
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Jan 03, 2026 |
vs Catawba |
2:00 PM EST*~ |
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Jan 07, 2026 |
at Emory & Henry |
7:30 PM EST*~ |
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Jan 10, 2026 |
at Lenoir-Rhyne |
4:00 PM EST*~ |
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Jan 14, 2026 |
vs Lincoln Memorial |
7:30 PM EST*~ |
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Jan 17, 2026 |
vs Newberry |
4:00 PM EST*~ |
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Jan 21, 2026 |
at Mars Hill |
7:30 PM EST*~ |
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Jan 24, 2026 |
at Catawba |
4:00 PM EST*~ |
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Jan 28, 2026 |
vs Tusculum |
7:30 PM EST*~ |
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Jan 31, 2026 |
vs Coker |
4:00 PM EST*~ |
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Feb 04, 2026 |
at Virginia-Wise |
7:30 PM EST*~ |
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Feb 07, 2026 |
at Anderson (S.C.) |
4:00 PM EST*~ |
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Feb 11, 2026 |
at Lincoln Memorial |
7:30 PM EST*~ |
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Feb 14, 2026 |
vs Wingate |
4:00 PM EST*~ |
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Feb 18, 2026 |
vs Emory & Henry |
7:30 PM EST*~ |
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Feb 21, 2026 |
at Newberry |
4:00 PM EST*~ |
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Feb 25, 2026 |
vs Mars Hill |
7:30 PM EST*~ |
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Feb 28, 2026 |
vs Lenoir-Rhyne |
4:00 PM EST*~ |
Senior Day |
