Louisville basketball schedule 2025-26: Does Pat Kelsey have toughest noncon slate in ACC?

Louisville basketball unveiled its complete 2025-26 nonconference schedule Aug. 25, and it’s a doozy.

Pat Kelsey wasn’t kidding about wanting the smoke. Seven of the Cardinals’ 13 opponents cracked the top 75 of analytics guru Bart Torvik’s preseason rankings: Arkansas (16), Baylor (34), Cincinnati (32), Indiana (42), Kentucky (14), Memphis (73) and Tennessee (13). Three of those programs, the Razorbacks, the Wildcats and the Volunteers, advanced to the Sweet 16 or further in the 2025 NCAA Tournament.

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With a slate like that, it’s no wonder U of L booked Kansas for its first exhibition — Oct. 24 at the KFC Yum! Center.

“You can’t sharpen your teeth eating oatmeal,” said Kelsey, whose team is 11th in Torvik’s rankings. “Whether it ends up being the best strategy in the world, I don’t know; but that’s what we decided. Bring it.”

Louisville was able to add more firepower to its nonconference schedule for Year 2 of the Kelsey era because the ACC reverted to an 18-game slate. After operating with a 20-game schedule for six seasons, the conference elected to trim some fat with hopes of boosting its standing nationally.

The ACC sent only four teams to the 2025 NCAA Tournament. Half of its 18 members finished outside of the top 100 in the NET, and the Cards were one of only three inside the top 30. Per The Athletic’s Jim Root, the league went 22-59 in nonconference Quad 1 and Quad 2 games; its .272 winning percentage was not only the lowest among high-majors but also worse than the likes of the American, the Atlantic 10, the Mountain West and the West Coast.

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All this to say — U of L understood the assignment. But it has some competition for the title of toughest nonconference schedule in the ACC. Here’s a look at how the slate stacks up against the rest of the league:

Does Louisville basketball have the ACC’s toughest 2025-26 nonconference schedule?

Before going any further, here’s Louisville’s complete 2025-26 nonconference schedule. To compare this against the rest of the ACC, we tracked the number of high-major opponents, opponents coming off trips to the NCAA Tournament, opponents in Torvik’s top 150, opponents in Torvik’s bottom 165 and the number of games away from home.

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Note: Tipoff times and TV assignments are TBD unless otherwise noted.

• Monday, Nov. 3: vs. South Carolina State

• Thursday, Nov. 6: vs. Jackson State

• Tuesday, Nov. 11: vs. Kentucky

• Saturday, Nov. 15: vs. Ohio

• Friday, Nov. 21: vs. Cincinnati (at Heritage Bank Center in Cincinnati)

• Monday, Nov. 24: vs. Eastern Michigan

• Wednesday, Nov. 26: vs. NJIT

• Wednesday, Dec. 3: at Arkansas (ACC/SEC Challenge)

• Saturday, Dec. 6: vs. Indiana (at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis), 2 p.m., CBS

• Saturday, Dec. 13: vs. Memphis

• Tuesday, Dec. 16: at Tennessee

• Saturday, Dec. 20: vs. Montana

• Saturday, Feb. 14: vs. Baylor (at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas)

That’s six games against high-major opponents; six games against teams in last season’s March Madness field, seven games against members of Torvik’s top 150 (with an average ranking of 32nd); three games against sub-300 programs; and five games away from the Yum! Center.

Who in the ACC has it more challenging than this? You can make a strong case for the reigning champion, Duke.

Jon Scheyer’s Blue Devils (No. 2 on Torvik) play seven games against high-major opponents — each one inside Torvik’s top 40, with an average ranking of 18th. Only one, against defending national champion Florida in the ACC/SEC Challenge, will be played inside Cameron Indoor Stadium. Instead, the Crazies will be visited by Western Carolina, Indiana State, Niagara, Howard and Lipscomb. Their average Torvik ranking is 289th.

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Duke’s neutral-site opponents: Texas (Charlotte, North Carolina), Kansas (New York), Arkansas (Chicago), Texas Tech (New York) and Michigan (Washington, D.C.). Its true road games: at Army and at Michigan State.

Four other ACC programs have scheduled seven or more nonconference games against opponents in Torvik’s top 150: Clemson, N.C. State, North Carolina and SMU. The Mustangs lead the way with eight, but the Tigers have the highest average ranking — flirting around 50th, depending on who they draw in Game 2 of the Shriners Children’s Charleston Classic. The Wolfpack play the fewest cupcakes, with only one game against a team in Torvik’s bottom 165 on the books for Year 1 of the Will Wade era.

A few other ACC scheduling notes worth highlighting:

• Wake Forest has six games against teams in Torvik’s top 75. The Demon Deacons could face two top-five opponents if they were to play Purdue in Game 2 of the Baha Mar Championship.

• Notre Dame and Syracuse are representing the ACC at the Players Era Festival in Las Vegas. The Orange got the tougher road — Houston in Game 1, Kansas in Game 2, TBD in Game 3 — and will also host Tennessee as part of the ACC/SEC Challenge. The Fighting Irish drew the Jayhawks in Game 1 and Rutgers in Game 2 of the Players Era Festival. They’ll also face three other top-60 opponents over the course of their nonconference schedule: Ohio State, Missouri and TCU.

• Wade isn’t the only ACC newcomer embracing challenging matchups. At Miami, Jai Lucas has two games against opponents in Torvik’s top 10, Florida and BYU, and four total vs. the top 100. Virginia is starting the Ryan Odom era with a noncon schedule that features six top-100 opponents. Florida State had not yet revealed its full slate as of Aug. 28, but Luke Loucks’ Seminoles will face Torvik’s projected No. 1, Houston, and the No. 5 Gators.

• Pittsburgh‘s six high-major opponents all rank among Torvik’s top 115, but only one of them made last season’s NCAA Tournament: Texas A&M.

• Stanford will face five top-150 opponents — but only two high-majors, Colorado and Minnesota.

• Between California, Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech, only the Golden Bears were bold enough to schedule a top-30 opponent: No. 9 UCLA.

• Boston College leads the ACC when it comes to the most games against teams in Torvik’s bottom 165 (five) and the fewest games against high-majors (one, LSU).

Reach Louisville men’s basketball reporter Brooks Holton at bholton@gannett.com and follow him on X at @brooksHolton.

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This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Louisville basketball schedule 25-26: Nonconference slate analysis