How to watch college basketball 25/26: live stream games from anywhere

The Big 12 feels like the center of the college basketball universe for 25/26, with the AP No.2-ranked Houston Cougars, last season's NCAA tournament runners-up, joined by five more top-25 programs. Amongst those are the Kansas Jayhawks and BYU Cougars, home respectively to Darryn Peterson and AJ Dybantsa, two of the brightest prospects in NCAA basketball's most promising freshman class in years.

You can watch college basketball 25/26 from anywhere with a VPN.

The NBA 25/26 season may be young, but Nets fans may also want to keep an eye out for Cameron Boozer, who could feasibly succeed Cooper Flagg as the Duke Blue Devils' second straight No.1 overall pick. If that surname sounds conspicuous, it's because the power forward is the son of two-time NBA All-Star and Olympic gold medalist Carlos Boozer.

In a nice bit of symmetry, Cameron is teammates with his twin brother Cayden, while Cooper's twin Ace Flagg has been recruited by his local school the Maine Black Bears. Kiyan Anthony and Bryce James, the sons of Carmelo Anthony and LeBron James respectively, are tipping off their college careers with the Syracuse Orange and Arizona Wildcats.

The Purdue Boilermakers, led by another potential No.1 pick in Braden Smith, enter the campaign at the very top of the AP pile, with the reigning champion Florida Gators, UConn Huskies, Michigan Wolverines, Kentucky Wildcats, St. John's Red Storm and aforementioned Houston and Duke also shaping up as March Madness title contenders.

Check out all of the TV and streaming details below to find out how to watch college basketball from anywhere.

College Basketball Deal

College Basketball airs across multiple networks for the 2025/26 season, making Sling TV the ideal choice to catch as many games as possible. Sling offers access to major channels including CBS, NBC, FOX, TNT, ESPN, and more. New subscribers can get the combined Blue and Orange package for just $33 for the first month (normally $65.99).

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Watch college basketball live streams for FREE

You can watch select college basketball games free-of-charge on DAZN in the U.K..

The streaming service usually costs £24.99/month or £180/year, but for a limited time it's live streaming up to 20 NCAA basketball games — and up to 25 college football games — for free each week. Just register an account.

Away from home? You may not be able to watch the action like you normally would due to regional restrictions. Fortunately, there’s an easy solution — you can use a VPN to watch college basketball for free. We’ll show you how to do that below.

Watch college basketball 25/26 from anywhere

Away from home at the moment and blocked from watching the hoops on your usual subscription?

You can still watch college basketball 25/26 live thanks to the wonders of a VPN (Virtual Private Network). The software allows your devices to appear to be back in your home country regardless of where in the world you are, making it ideal for viewers away on vacation or on business. Our favorite is NordVPN — we explain why in our NordVPN review.

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Using a VPN is incredibly simple.

1. Install the VPN of your choice. As we've said, NordVPN is our favorite.

2. Choose the location you wish to connect to in the VPN app. For instance, if you're in the U.K. and want to view an American service, you'd select U.S. from the list.

3. Sit back and enjoy the action. Head to Sling or another streaming service and watch college basketball 25/26.

Which channels are showing college basketball in 25/26?

As mentioned above, more than 30 different channels and streaming services will air at least one college basketball game this year — including 12 that are traditional broadcast or cable TV networks.

The good news is that if you have a cable TV alternative, you can get access to most or all of these channels.

Here's the full list of every channel that will show college basketball this season:

College basketball channels by conference

How to watch college basketball live streams in the U.S.

If you've cut the cord, you'll need a cable TV alternative to watch college basketball this season. There are several options to choose from.

ESPN Unlimited is brand-new, but should be your first port of call. It carries ESPN, ESPN on ABC, ESPN2, ESPN3, ESPNU, ESPN Deportes, ACC Network, ACC Network Extra, SEC Network and SEC Network+, plus ESPN Select (formerly ESPN Plus), which has a ton of exclusive games.

ESPN Unlimited costs $29.99/month or $299.99/year, but for a limited time you can bundle it with Disney Plus and Hulu for $29.99/month for 12 months, after which it'll cost $35.99/month.

Sling is the cheapest cable alternative we recommend. Sling Orange costs $46/month and carries ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN3, TBS and TNT. Sling Blue costs $51/month and carries local NBC, ABC and FOX affiliates in select markets, as well as FS1, TBS, TNT and TruTV.

You can combine them both for $66/month and subscribe to the Sports Extra addon for an additional $15/month, which unlocks ACC Network, Big Ten Network, ESPNU, SEC Network and more.

Fubo is a more complete option, but it's more expensive too. Unlike Sling, Fubo offers CBS as well as NBC, ABC and FOX regardless of your media market. It also offers CBS Sports Network, along with every other channel you need for college basketball, bar Peacock and ESPN Select.

Fubo starts at $84.99/month. SEC Network and ACC Network aren't included as standard in all regions, in which case you'll need to pay $7.99/month extra for the Fubo Extra addon, which also grants access to ESPNU.

If you can live without CBS, Sling might be the more cost-efficient choice.

There are two further cable alternatives worth considering. YouTube TV is great for watching sports and offers features like multiview and key plays. Unfortunately, it doesn't offer the SEC Network, which is a dealbreaker for a lot of college basketball fans.

There's also Hulu + Live TV, which carries all the channels you need and gives you an ESPN Select subscription. However, at $83/month it's pricey. Depending on what you need, you might be better off combining Sling Blue with ESPN Unlimited.

Peacock has some exclusive college basketball games, but it also offers NBC coverage as a simulcast if you sign up for the $10.99/month Premium tier.

Paramount Plus offers CBS coverage as a simulcast via the $12.99/month Premium tier.

Max also live streams select games that are being televised on TBS, TNT and TruTV. Max starts at $10.99/month.

How to watch college basketball live streams in the U.K.

DAZN is showing up to 20 games per week — across men’s and women’s college basketball — during the regular season, as well as 63 March Madness games across both tournaments, including every game from the Elite Eight onwards.

DAZN is home to NCAA football and the entirety of the College Football Playoff too.

Best of all, all of DAZN's NCAA coverage is free-to-air for a limited time. All you need is an account. A DAZN subscription usually costs £24.99 per month or £180 per year.

If you're on holiday outside the U.K., you can still follow your usual college basketball live streams by using one of the best VPN services, such as NordVPN.

How to watch college basketball live streams in Canada

In Canada, college basketball coverage is split between Sportsnet and TSN.

You can stream NCAA basketball games live on Sportsnet Plus, which starts at CA$29.99/month CA$249.99/year.

Similarly, TSN+ grants access to everything TSN has to offer for $8/month or $80/year.

If you live in Canada but aren't at home right now, you can still watch college basketball live streams by using a quality VPN like NordVPN to unlock your usual service.

How to watch college basketball live streams in Australia

Fans in Australia can watch select college basketball games on ESPN via Foxtel.

Don't have Foxtel and don't want to subscribe? ESPN's NCAA basketball coverage will also be shown on specialist streaming service Kayo Sports, with its affordable, commitment-free plans starting from just $25/month, and hosting plenty of NFL, cricket, AFL, rugby, F1 and loads of other live sports besides.

There's also a 7-day FREE trial for anybody who hasn't used the service before.

Alternatively, all college basketball games shown on ESPN are available to live stream via Disney Plus too. A subscription starts at AU$15.99/month or AU$159.99/year.

Not in Australia right now? You can simply use a VPN like NordVPN to watch all the action on your Kayo account as if you were back home.

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