The Cincinnati Bearcats and Minnesota Golden Gophers are close to agreeing on a home-and-home series taking place during the 2026 and 2027 college basketball seasons. The game this season has yet to officially announce when and where it will be taking place.
The agreement was first reported on by Bearcat Journal's Keegan Nickson, who said that John Cunningham, the Cincinnati Athletic Director, who had previously worked at Minnesota, helped facilitate the home-and-home series with Minnesota Athletic Director Mark Coyle.
The Golden Gophers, now under first-year head coach Nike Medved, who came from Colorado State, coached against Calhoun in the Mountain West in 2024-25. Both coaches would split a game, but Medved has the +/- at +1.
It was reported weeks ago and confirmed by Jerrod Calhoun himself that he was working on scheduling a game with a Big Ten opponent. Many speculated that the opponent would be Ohio State, whom Calhoun noted he wanted the Bearcats to play more often during his introductory press conference. The Bearcats recently added the Caresource Invitational exhibition event to their schedule on July 9th, playing the Buckeyes at the Lindner Family Tennis Center at an outside venue. With the Buckeyes likely being on the schedule in 2027, everyone thought that the Bearcats were done adding power opponent to their non-conference schedule.
The Bearcats currently have Clemson, Xavier, and Dayton all on their non-conference schedule, with games in the ESPN Events Invitational coming against Boston College and Georgia. Adding Minnesota to that mix is a very strong schedule and should get the Bearcats ready for conference play.
BREAKING: Cincinnati and Minnesota are expected to begin a home-and-home basketball series in 2026 and 2027, sources tell @BearcatJournal.
— Keegan Nickoson (@Knickoson42) July 9, 2026
Story: https://t.co/azHT61XISy
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