Where to watch JUCO men’s basketball championship: Channel, live stream, time for 2026 NJCAA D1 final originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
After a week of action at Hutch, the 2026 NJCAA men’s basketball tournament is down to the final two teams. Howard and the College of Southern Idaho will play for the junior college national title Saturday.
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The Hawks (32-4) and Golden Eagles (34-2) entered the 24-team tournament as the top two seeds but have had to work their way through the bracket to get to this point with some tight games — none more so than Howard’s wild 134-128 double-overtime win over Butler in the quarterfinals.
Both teams feature balanced attacks, with five players averaging in double figures. Freshman Terry Copeland paces Howard with 19.7 points and 7.7 rebounds per game, while sophomore Jalen Lyn leads the way for CSI at 16.4 points per game.
Each school also has trophies in the case back home; CSI won national titles in 2011, 1987 and 1976, and Howard took the crown in 2010 in its lone previous appearance in the final.
Who will add some more hardware Saturday? Here’s everything you need to know to watch.
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Where to watch JUCO men’s basketball championship
Howard vs. Southern Idaho will by broadcast nationally by ESPNU. Fans can stream the game on the ESPN app or via Fubo.
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What time is the JUCO basketball championship game?
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Time: 4 p.m. ET | 3 p.m. CT | 2 p.m. MT
The NJCAA Division I championship game is set to tip off Saturday at 4 p.m. ET. The game will be played at the Hutchinson Sports Arena in Hutchinson, Kansas, which has hosted the tournament since 1949.
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NJCAA basketball national champions
Here are the last 10 JUCO national champions and runners-up:
|
Year |
Champion |
Runner-up |
|---|---|---|
|
2025 |
Trinity Valley |
Connors State |
|
2024 |
Barton |
Triton |
|
2023 |
Logan |
Northwest Florida |
|
2022 |
Northwest Florida |
Salt Lake CC |
|
2021 |
Coffeyville |
Cowley |
|
2019 |
Vincennes |
Ranger (TX) |
|
2018 |
South Plains |
Southern Idaho |
|
2017 |
Hutchinson |
Eastern Florida |
|
2016 |
Salt Lake CC |
Hutchinson |
|
2015 |
Northwest Florida |
South Plains |
