Over the last few weeks, news about Memphis’ 2026 basketball season has been released, and on Friday, it was reported that the Tigers will play VCU next year. According to Zach Joachim, Rams’ coach Phil Martelli Jr. told reporters that VCU will start a three-year series with Memphis in 2026.
The game hasn’t been officially announced by Memphis, but it will be added to a challenging non-conference schedule. Memphis will start the season in South Dakota for a neutral-site matchup against Iowa State, who looks to punch its ticket into the Elite Eight Friday night, and it has four more Power Conference opponents already on the schedule, including Louisville, Texas, Baylor and Vanderbilt.
The Tigers also have Utah State and a neutral-site game against Dayton, which also plays in the Atlantic 10, on the non-conference slate next year.
The Rams finished the season with a 28-8 record and won the A-10 conference tournament with a win over Dayton. They beat North Carolina in the first round of the NCAA Tournament as an 11 seed before falling in the round of 32 against Illinois.
VCU won 28 games in back-to-back seasons, and it hasn’t won fewer than 22 games over the last five seasons. This season marked Martelli Jr.’s first season as the Rams’ head coach, and his team went 21-3 in their last 24 games heading into the NCAA Tournament.
Memphis has played VCU nine times and holds a 6-3 record, including back-to-back wins in 2022 and 2023. Penny Hardaway has coached against the Rams in three games and has a 2-1 record against them.
The most recent game was an 85-80 overtime victory for Memphis in Richmond during the 2023-24 season. In that game, David Jones led the team with 23 points, eight rebounds and four steals.