The first tip of Butler's 2025-26 season will bring a historic opponent back to Hinkle Fieldhouse as the Bulldogs will host Notre Dame in an exhibition contest Friday, Oct. 17.
 
It starts a two-year agreement as Notre Dame will host an exhibition in South Bend between the two programs at the beginning of the 2026-27 season.
 
The tip time and television assignment for the Oct. 17 exhibition will be announced at a later date.
 
Notre Dame head coach Micah Shrewsberry spent four seasons (2007-11) as a member of Butler's coaching staff, including the program's runs to both the 2010 and 2011 national championship games.
 
Notes on the Butler-Notre Dame Series:

• Butler and Notre Dame have played 103 times previously in the regular season and postseason.
• The teams have not met since March 21, 2015 when Notre Dame posted a 67-64 overtime win in the NCAA Tournament Round of 32.
• The teams have not played on campus since Feb. 15, 1995, which was a 76-60 Butler win at Hinkle Fieldhouse.
• The first game played at Hinkle Fieldhouse featured Butler hosting Notre Dame March 7, 1928 (a 21-13 overtime win by the Bulldogs).
• Tony Hinkle's final game as the head coach at Butler came against Notre Dame at Hinkle Fieldhouse Feb. 23, 1970 as a sold-out crowd of 15,000 fans were on hand. Austin Carr scored 50 points for the Fighting Irish in Notre Dame's 121-114 win.
• Butler and Notre Dame first met Jan. 27, 1909.
• The only other meeting between the 1995 game at Hinkle and the 2015 NCAA Tournament game was a neutral-site contest as part of the NIT Season Tip-Off (Preseason NIT) at (then) Conseco Fieldhouse in downtown Indianapolis Nov. 13, 2006. Butler won that match-up, 71-69.

 
Butler's 2025-26 non-conference schedule continues to come together. The Bulldogs will play in the Greenbrier Tip-Off (Nov. 21 and 23) and the Indy Classic (Dec. 20 vs. Northwestern at Gainbridge Fieldhouse). Butler will travel to SMU for a Nov. 15 tip in Dallas that concludes a home-and-home series that began at Hinkle Fieldhouse last season.
 
The Hinkle Fieldhouse portion of the non-conference schedule also includes dates against Southern Indiana (Nov. 5), IU Indy (Nov. 8), Chicago State (Nov. 11), and Eastern Michigan (Dec. 2).
 
Additional games on Butler's non-conference schedule will be announced soon.
 
Butler enters the 2025-26 season off an appearance in the inaugural College Basketball Crown. Coach Thad Matta's Bulldogs have added five impact transfers in Michael Ajayi (Gonzaga), Yame Butler (Drexel), Jalen Jackson (Purdue Fort Wayne), Drayton Jones (South Carolina State), and Yohan Traore (SMU). That group joins returners Finley Bizjack, who averaged 10.3 points per game for the Bulldogs last season; Jamie Kaiser Jr., who missed the entire 2024-25 season with an ankle injury; and Evan Haywood, who started both College Basketball Crown games. Butler also welcomes a Top 25 recruiting class.
 
Season tickets for the upcoming 2025-26 basketball season are on sale now. The Bulldogs will once again host all 10 BIG EAST rivals at Hinkle Fieldhouse. Fans can email tickets@butler.edu or call the ticket office at 317-940-3647 for more information on securing season tickets.