The Bulldogs will open the Ronald Nored Era Saturday, Oct. 10, hosting Indiana State in an exhibition tip at Hinkle Fieldhouse.
 
With a Butler football game slated for that afternoon at the Sellick Bowl, an early evening tip time is expected for the basketball exhibition. Both games are part of Butler's Family Weekend on the Indianapolis campus.
 
The exhibition joins four other games recently announced for the Bulldogs' 2026-27 non-conference home schedule:

• The regular season opener versus Lafayette on Monday, Nov. 2
• Wednesday, Nov. 4 against Fairleigh Dickinson
• Tuesday, Nov. 17 versus Western Carolina
• A Black Friday contest against Bellarmine Friday, Nov. 27

 
Additional games on Butler's non-conference schedule will be released soon. Tip times and television assignments will be announced at a later date.
 
Butler also hosted Indiana State in an exhibition at Hinkle Fieldhouse as a prelude to the 2025-26 season.
 
Butler's Nored and Indiana State's Matthew Graves are two of the four Bulldog alums currently leading NCAA Division I programs (joining Baylor's Scott Drew and Miami Ohio's Travis Steele). Graves finished his Butler playing career with 994 points. He led the Bulldogs to NCAA Tournament appearances in each of his last two seasons (1997 and 1998). His coaching career at Butler began in 2001 under Todd Lickliter, and he later served on the staff of Brad Stevens. Graves closed his coaching stint at Butler with eight straight 20-win seasons, including back-to-back NCAA national championship game appearances in 2010 and 2011.
 
The series between Butler and Indiana State dates back to 1904. Indiana State is Butler's most-played opponent in terms of regular season match-ups as the teams have played nearly 130 contests.
 
Nored enters his first season leading the men's basketball program at his alma mater. He arrives at Butler after serving on the coaching staffs with five NBA franchises, most recently as an assistant coach with the Atlanta Hawks since 2023. Nored helped the Bulldogs to back-to-back appearances in the NCAA national championship game as the starting point guard for coach Brad Stevens and concluded his playing career by earning Academic All-America honors in 2012.
 
The Bulldog roster continues to take shape. Starters Jalen Jackson and Drayton Jones return for the 2026-27 campaign and are joined by an exciting group of newcomers.
 
Season tickets for the upcoming 2026-27 basketball season are on sale now at butlersports.com/seasontickets. 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.