BOONEVILLE, Miss. - For the second consecutive year, the Northeast Mississippi Community College men's basketball program received no favors in its conference road schedule.
The Tigers will visit the only three teams that finished ahead of them in the Mississippi Association of Community Colleges Conference (MACCC) standings from last season during the upcoming 2025-26 campaign.
"We know the MACCC is going to be as tough as can be," said Northeast head coach Cord Wright. "Across the board, I think it's going to be wide open as far as I can tell. There's probably two or three teams that have some significant freshmen returning."
The Tigers welcome Holmes Community College for their league opener on Monday, January 12. It will be the first game for Northeast after a lengthy 27-day layoff due to the Christmas break.
Northeast starts its rigorous away stretch against Itawamba Community College on Thursday, January 15. The Tigers go to the other aforementioned schools on the first two Mondays of February beginning with Pearl River Community College.
The Tigers get postseason rematches from last March by traveling to reigning region winner Jones College on February 9th and Hinds Community College one week later.
Three two-day tournaments are among the highlights of the Tigers' non-conference slate. That includes the third annual classics named for legends Bonner Arnold and Harvey Childers, who both led Northeast to the national championship game during their hall of fame careers.
East Mississippi Community College, Enterprise State (Ala.) Community College and South Georgia Technical College are the participants for the Bonner Arnold Classic from November 6-7.
The Harvey Childers Classic features East Central Community College, Tennessee Valley (Ala.) Prep Sports Academy and Three Rivers (Mo.) College from December 12-13.
The Tigers also journey to the Peach State for the first time in the program's modern era. Northeast meets East Georgia State College and host South Georgia Tech going into the Thanksgiving holiday.
"The main things we tried to focus on was really challenging ourselves," Wright said. "Scheduling is one of the hardest things I do. We did the best we could in putting it together. I'm excited about it like every year."
There are 16 total regular season contests inside historic Bonner Arnold Coliseum, which is one less than the previous year. The Tigers do not play any prep schools or junior varsity squads for the first time since the 2021-22 campaign.
Northeast christens the new season on Saturday, November 1 by venturing to Marion Military (Ala.) College. It is just the third time in Wright's 13-year tenure that the Tigers will open on the road.