Arizona men’s basketball’s inaugural season in the Big 12 Conference will see the Wildcats hosting several of the league’s top programs but missing out on a McKale Center date with the Kansas Jayhawks.
The Big 12 announced men’s basketball conference matchups on Thursday.
Arizona will have home-and-away games with Arizona State, Baylor, BYU, Iowa State, Texas Tech.
Arizona will only play UCF, Colorado, Houston, TCU, Utah at home. The Wildcats will only play Cincinnati, Kansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma State, West Virginia on the road.
Arizona’s home slate will feature games against the No. 3 (Houston), No. 4 (Baylor) and No. 5 (Iowa State) teams in college basketball reporter Jon Rothstein’s preseason rankings. However, the Wildcats won’t get to face blue blood Kansas in Tucson, instead only playing the Jayhawks at Phog Allen.
The anticipation is over. The 2024-25 @Big12Conference opponents are set ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/3mktmeCba6
— Arizona Basketball (@ArizonaMBB) June 27, 2024
Also of note is that Arizona will play in-state rival ASU in both Tucson and Tempe but will only play former Pac-12 members Colorado and Utah at home.
Opponents were selected based on a combination of geography, historical results and a poll of the coaches to best balance the schedule in terms of travel and competitiveness, the Big 12 said.
Arizona has previously played 14 of the 15 other Big 12 members; the only school it has no history with is UCF, which visits Tucson.
Dates for conference matchups will be announced at a later time.