Report: Michigan and Duke finalizing non-conference showdown in Washington, D.C.
The Michigan Wolverines and Duke Blue Devils are finalizing a non-conference game that will take place at Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C. in February 2026, according to a report from CBS Sports’ Jon Rothstein.
Per CBS Sports’ Matt Norlander in a follow-up report, the game will take place either Saturday, Feb. 21, or Sunday, Feb. 22.
“Capital One Arena organizers [are] still working through the particulars of Saturday night vs. Sunday afternoon,” Norlander wrote, adding that the television partner is still to be determined.
The two squads are coming off great seasons relative to their expectations in 2024-25. Michigan advanced to the Sweet Sixteen in the first year under head coach Dusty May, while the Blue Devils advanced to the Final Four and lost to Houston 70-67 at the Alamodome in San Antonio.
Duke leads the all-time series 22-8 in 30 meetings between the two schools. The Blue Devils have won three in a row, with Michigan’s last win coming on Dec. 6, 2008 in Ann Arbor, an 81-73 victory. The two have not played since the 2013 season, a 79-69 Duke win.
The Wolverines last played at Capital One Arena in 2017, where they won four games in four days to capture a Big Ten Tournament title after their arrival was delayed due to a plane crash on the way out of town.
May said this fall that Michigan will continue scheduling tough non-conference games in NBA-sized venues. The Wolverines played a trio of neutral-site non-conference games this year against Wake Forest in Greensboro, Arkansas at Madison Square Garden, and Oklahoma in Charlotte as part of the Jumpman Invitational. They lost all three.
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“They’re less common because… well, I’m not going to say why it’s less common, every situation is different,” May said in November. “For us, I don’t really care what my wiki record is or whatever. I have no idea how many games we’ve won or we’ve lost. I know that we lost our last game.
“These games are good for the game of basketball. They’re good for our players. They’re good for television. They’re good for our universities. They bring attention and eyes. They’re good for recruiting. And so, why wouldn’t we play them? The NCAA Tournament has proven that if you play as competitive a schedule as possible, they’re going to give you the benefit of the doubt.
“All those things add up to it being wise for us to play as many games as we can like this. And you know, at the end of the year I may be kicking myself, but right now, we think it’s going to help us improve.”
Michigan will also play Wake Forest in Detroit at Little Caesars Arena next season, in addition to a road game at TCU (Nov. 14, 2025) and be part of the Players Era Festival in Las Vegas.
