Wake Forest gets NC State, Notre Dame twice in ACC schedule

Wake Forest’s most consequential ACC dates are the ones that will shape the season in Winston-Salem: NC State twice, Notre Dame twice, and home games against Duke and North Carolina at LJVM Coliseum. For fans looking for the games that will define the year, this schedule delivers them in the spots that matter most.

The Atlantic Coast Conference announced the 2026-27 men’s basketball matchups on May 28, giving Wake Forest an 18-game league slate built around one primary partner and one variable partner, both home and away. For the Demon Deacons, that means NC State remains the primary partner and Notre Dame becomes the rotating repeat opponent, which is why Steve Forbes’ team will see both programs twice. Wake Forest will host nine ACC games in Winston-Salem, a home card that also includes Duke and North Carolina and gives the Deacons a full cluster of Big Four matchups on the LJVM Coliseum floor.

That structure makes the season’s travel and rivalry load easier to read. Wake Forest will not play Virginia in the conference schedule, and the ACC’s new 18-game model leaves the Deacons with one fewer league game than the old 20-game format, which began before the 2025-26 season. League play is set to start in late December and run through the first Saturday of March, so the conference race will still be compressed into the winter stretch that decides seeding and postseason momentum.

The dates Wake fans can already circle outside league play are just as concrete. Wake Forest’s schedule page lists a road trip to Vanderbilt on Nov. 5, a Dec. 6 game against UMass in the Basketball Hall of Fame Classic, and a Dec. 19 meeting with West Virginia in the Holiday Hoopfest at First Horizon Coliseum in Greensboro. That Greensboro date matters locally too, because it puts a neutral-site game within driving distance and offers an early look at how the Deacons handle a December spotlight away from Winston-Salem.

The rest of the ACC calendar will come later, with the full schedule, including dates, times and television designations, due in September. The league will then head to Greensboro again for the 2027 ACC Men’s Basketball Tournament, set for March 11-15 at First Horizon Coliseum, where Wake Forest’s path through the regular season will finally be judged in full.