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Mississippi Valley State's 2026-27 men's basketball schedule opens with 16 consecutive road games against power-conference opponents — including national champion Michigan and runner-up UConn — with the Delta Devils banking six-figure buy-game checks and not playing at home until Jan. 9.

What is a key fact in this story? (1)

**Mississippi Valley State** will open 2026-27 with 16 straight road games, not hosting a contest until Jan. 9, after going 3-30 last season under new coach Mike Davis.

What is a key fact in this story? (2)

**MVSU** earns upward of $100,000 per buy game against opponents including Oklahoma, Washington, Oregon, Arkansas, Michigan, UConn, Ohio State, Texas Tech, and Baylor, with the full slate of road games potentially netting close to $1 million for the athletic department.

MVSU Books 16 Straight Road Games, No Home Until January — SkimNews

By CBS Sports · Summarized & edited by Kapil Samant · 2026-09-24

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Mississippi Valley State will open 2026-27 with 16 straight road games, not hosting a contest until Jan. 9, after going 3-30 last season under new coach Mike Davis.
MVSU earns upward of $100,000 per buy game against opponents including Oklahoma, Washington, Oregon, Arkansas, Michigan, UConn, Ohio State, Texas Tech, and Baylor, with the full slate of road games potentially netting close to $1 million for the athletic department.
MVSU has played 1,455 basketball games since 1978 without ever beating a high-major opponent, a streak it faces while fielding a roster where eight of 13 players came from JUCO and only Gabriel Martinez and Tianhao Wu stand 6-foot-10 or taller.
The buy-game model — described as common across the MEAC, SWAC, America East, Southern, Southland, and Summit League — keeps low-major athletic departments financially afloat even as players travel for two months with no home games and no NIL payments.
MVSU's schedule includes matchups against coaches Dan Hurley, John Calipari, Grant McCasland, and Scott Drew, with 11 games against high-major teams (12 if Oregon State in the revived Pac-12 is counted).

Why it matters: MVSU's 14-game, all-road nonconference slate illustrates the financial engine of low-major Division I basketball: the school collects roughly $100K per guaranteed loss to fund its athletic department, while players ride buses for two months with no NIL income and virtually no chance of winning — the price of keeping the lights on for HBCU and small-conference programs.