LAKELAND, Fla. — The Fire Men's Basketball program has officially released the schedule for the upcoming 2026-27 season. The Fire's 28-game regular season campaign features 15 appearances at home inside The Furnace, 12 true road contests, and one neutral-site matchup.
Southeastern enters the season with a highly demanding schedule designed to test the program nationally. The slate includes 16 games against teams that finished in the top 100 of the RPI last season, with 10 of those contests coming against top-50 RPI programs. Additionally, the Fire will line up against six teams that qualified for the 2025-26 NAIA National Tournament, including two programs that concluded last year ranked in the top five nationally (#2 Grace College and #4 Arizona Christian).
"We're excited about the challenge this schedule presents," said head coach,
Hudson Welty. "Our goal is always to compete against quality opponents, and this year's slate gives us an opportunity to test ourselves against some of the best programs in the country while also creating a great home atmosphere for our fans."
The season opens on Friday, Oct. 23, with a road contest at Florida College in Temple Terrace, followed by a trip to Mount Vernon, Ga., for the Brewton Classic on October 30-31. The classic features a neutral-site game against national tournament qualifier Life. The Fire then travel west to Arizona for a pair of non-conference games against #4 Arizona Christian (Nov. 5) and Embry-Riddle (Ariz.) (Nov. 6).
Southeastern opens its home schedule on Tuesday, Nov. 24, hosting Mobile, followed by a November 28 matchup against Missouri Baptist. Sun Conference play begins at home on Wednesday, Dec. 2, against Warner. December is highlighted by a critical mid-month home stand at The Furnace against non-conference opponents #2 Grace College (Dec. 15), Saint Francis (Ind.) (Dec. 16), and RV Indiana Tech (Dec. 18).
Conference play resumes in full in January, featuring home-and-home series against Sun Conference rivals, including national tournament fixtures #10 Ave Maria and #11 Keiser.
"Last year's success established a strong foundation, but our focus is on continued growth and what is right in front of us each day," Welty added. "We have a group that is hungry to improve, and we're committed to building on the culture, toughness, and consistency that helped us take a step forward as a program."
The Sun Conference Tournament is scheduled to run from February 23-27, paving the way for the NAIA Tournament Opening Rounds on March 12-13. The NAIA Tournament Final Site action will take place from March 18-23, in Kansas City.
