College Basketball Opens Monday Night in Chicago: DePaul, Loyola and Northwestern All Tip Off at Home
The 2026-27 season starts Monday with three Chicago-area teams at home — DePaul against West Georgia at Wintrust Arena, Loyola against The Citadel at Gentile, and a new-look Northwestern against Binghamton in Evanston.
College basketball's opening night lands in Chicago three times over on Monday. DePaul, Loyola and Northwestern all begin the 2026-27 season at home, in three arenas within about a dozen miles of each other.
DePaul opens at Wintrust Arena against West Georgia (7:00 p.m. CT, ESPN+), a first-time opponent, as part of a ten-game Big East opening night. The Blue Demons warmed up with exhibitions at Loyola on October 18 and at home against Notre Dame on October 23; the first test against a top-100 opponent comes quickly, with South Florida visiting on Thursday, and DePaul travels to Evanston to face Northwestern on November 13.
Loyola, which hosted that DePaul exhibition last month, opens its own season at Gentile Arena against The Citadel (7:00 p.m. CT), with West Georgia — doing a Chicago double of its own — visiting the Ramblers on Thursday. Northwestern, meanwhile, starts a five-game homestand at Welsh-Ryan Arena against Binghamton (7:00 p.m. CT, B1G+, WGN Radio 720), with Stony Brook next on Friday.
The Wildcats may be the night's biggest unknown: Northwestern returns just three players from a team that went 15-19 last season, so Monday's opener is the first real look at a rebuilt roster's identity. By about 9:30 p.m., Chicago will have its first three data points of the college season — and the long winter of basketball will officially be under way.
