Big Sky basketball schedules pit Eastern Washington and Idaho in conference opener

The Big Sky Conference’s last season for the foreseeable future with regular travel patterns – and no “lone wolf” – will begin with a familiar opponent for both Idaho and Eastern Washington.

Each other.

The Vandals and Eagles will open league play against each other on Jan. 3, kicking off an 18-game, uninterrupted conference schedule. Both the EWU men’s and women’s programs released their full schedules on Monday, just as the Idaho women’s team did. The Idaho men’s team has yet to release a full schedule.

The previous few seasons, the two regional rivals played their games midseason; this year, they will begin and also end league play against each other.

But unlike the last few years, EWU and Idaho will not play men’s and women’s doubleheaders on the same day at the same site. Instead, the EWU women will host Idaho on Jan. 3 in Cheney while the men’s teams play in Moscow, and the EWU men will host Idaho on Monday, March 2, the regular season finale for both teams.

And, EWU will still play a pair of men’s and women’s home doubleheaders, but it will do so against Northern Arizona. The teams will meet in Flagstaff on Jan. 29, and then in Cheney on Feb. 28.

The Big Sky Tournament will be held in Boise from March 7 -11.

This will be the last season of Big Sky play for Sacramento State. In 2026-27, Utah Tech and Southern Utah – a previous member of the league – will join, giving the league 11 teams in men’s and women’s basketball. The league has yet to say how it will handle the odd number, and whether it will break up traditional travel partners.

Eastern Washington also released its full women’s and men’s nonconference schedules. Both feature matchups with Washington State: the men on Dec. 17 at Spokane Arena, the women in Pullman on Dec. 14.

The EWU women will also play Gonzaga, on Nov. 23 at McCarthey Athletic Center. The EWU men will not.

The EWU men’s regular season will start on Nov. 1 at UCLA, followed by visits to Loyola Marymount (Nov. 5), Colorado (Nov. 8) and Seattle (Nov. 12). The Eagles’ home opener will be on Nov. 17 against Eastern Oregon.

For its part of the Big Sky Summit League Challenge, the EWU men will play at Denver on Dec. 3 and host Kansas City on Dec. 6.

The EWU women will host Denver on Dec. 3 and will play at South Dakota on Dec. 6, their two Summit League opponents. The Eagles’ regular season starts at home Nov. 3 against Northwest University, and after a game at Arizona State on Nov. 8 they will host Southern Utah (Nov. 13) and Cal Poly (Nov. 17).

The Idaho women will open their regular season at Washington State on Nov. 3 before traveling to UC Davis on Nov. 7. Then they have four straight home games against Walla Walla (Nov. 9), Southern Utah (Nov. 15), UC Riverside (Nov. 21) and Cal State Northridge (Nov. 23).

Conference games will continue to be held primarily on Thursdays and Saturdays.

Schedules for the EWU and Idaho teams can be found on the program’s websites.