INDIANAPOLIS - As the summer continues, another schedule is released, as the men's basketball team has finalized its 2026-27 schedule for the first year of the Steve Drabyn era of Knights' basketball. The schedule, which was announced by the team's social media accounts on Saturday, June 27, features a complete 28 regular season slate, beginning on November 3 at home against IU-Southeast.

Marian looks to make a quick improvement in the first year under new head coach Steve Drabyn, and have built a competitive schedule that will have the Knights on the rise in the upcoming season. The Knights ended the 2025-26 season with a 5-23 record, marking the first season under 10 wins since 2007-08. 

To get the team back among the top squads in the Crossroads League and the NAIA, Drabyn and his staff found opponents from the four surrounding conferences of the Crossroads League to build the 10 non-league matchups. Marian will play teams hailing from the WHAC, River States, Mid-South, and Chicagoland Conferences, with five WHAC opponents headlining the bunch.

Marian will be tested throughout the season, playing 14 games against nine teams that qualified for the 2026 NAIA National Tournament. 10 of the 14 games will come during Crossroads League play against Taylor, Bethel, Indiana Wesleyan, Grace, and Huntington.

The season will officially begin on November 3 when the Knights host IU-Southeast, welcoming the Grenadiers to Indianapolis for the second consecutive season. The season-opener leads into a Friday and Saturday back-to-back to close the first week of games, when Marian travels to Livonia, Michigan, to play Madonna and Lawrence Tech. The first two games of the season against IUSE and Madonna feature games against 2026 NAIA qualifiers. 

The Knights will play their fourth non-conference game at Cornerstone before opening up Crossroads League play on November 18, when Marian hosts Drabyn's former team in Bethel University on the third Wednesday of the month. Marian will play at Spring Arbor before finishing the month with three non-conference games, taking on Campbellsville, St. Francis (Ill.) and St. Xavier.

A busy month of December opens on the second day of the month with a road CL game at Goshen College, before wrapping up the 2026 portion of conference games on Saturday, December 5, at home against Mount Vernon Nazarene. The Knights will then finish the non-conference slate with home games against Governors State and Defiance and a road trip to Michigan-Dearborn.

An eight-game month of January begins on the second day of the 2027 year, with Marian resuming Crossroads League play at home against Taylor University. Of note in January, the Knights will travel to defending league champion Grace on January 6, and will host Indiana Wesleyan, Huntington, Spring Arbor, and Goshen during the month. 

February opens at Mount Vernon Nazarene, with the team taking road games to Taylor, Indiana Wesleyan, and Huntington as well. Sandwiched in between the games at the Trojans and Wildcats are the final two home games of the season, when Marian hosts Grace and the University of Saint Francis on February 10 and 13. The road trip to take on the Foresters will be the final game of the regular season.

Crossroads League Tournament dates for the men in 2027 will be Tuesday, February 23, Friday, February 26, and Monday, March 1. The NAIA First and Second Round dates are set for March 12 and 13, and the NAIA Tournament Final Site begins on Thursday, March 18, in Kansas City, Mo. 

*Although indicated on the team's social post, the exhibition game against Indiana, which has been played each of the past three seasons, has not been scheduled at this time. If the game is scheduled, a notification will be made on the Marian social media channels when the time comes.*

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