Michigan basketball to face Duke in marquee matchup at Madison Square Garden

For the second straight season, Michigan basketball will square off against Duke in a marquee nonconference game at a neutral site.

The Wolverines will face the Blue Devils on Dec. 21 at New York’s Madison Square Garden during the 2026-27 campaign, the programs announced Thursday.

The matchup will be broadcast on Amazon’s Prime Video and is part of a three-game deal between Duke and the streaming service, which will also televise a Duke-Gonzaga contest on Feb. 20 at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit.

Last season, the Blue Devils handed the Wolverines one of their three losses, 68-63, in the nonconference finale at Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 21 before Michigan went on to win the national title.

This will mark the 32nd all-time meeting between the two programs. Michigan is 8-23 in the series and has dropped the past four head-to-head matchups, including last season’s clash when Michigan was ranked No. 1 in the nation and Duke was No. 3. Michigan’s last win over Duke came in Ann Arbor in 2008.

The Wolverines and Blue Devils are both projected to be top-five teams heading into next season. Michigan is bringing back guards Elliot Cadeau and Trey McKenney from its national title team and bringing in a six-man freshman class that’s headlined by McDonald’s All-Americans Brandon McCoy Jr. and Quinn Costello with transfers Moustapha Thiam (Cincinnati), J.P. Estrella (Tennessee) and Jalen Reed (LSU). Duke returns three starters from its Elite Eight squad — Caleb Foster, Patrick Ngongba II and Dame Sarr — to go along with Wisconsin transfer John Blackwell (Birmingham Brother Rice) and a freshman class that features three top-15 recruits.

The Duke contest will be among the highlights of what’s shaping up to be another competitive nonconference slate for Michigan. The Wolverines will and as part of home-and-home series. They’ll also participate in the Players Era tournament in Las Vegas, where they with three blowout wins in three days last year.