Arizona men’s basketball: Big 12 announces 2027 conference schedule

KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI - MARCH 13: Ivan Kharchenkov #8 of the Arizona Wildcats celebrates against the Iowa State Cyclones in the second half during the semifinals of the Big 12 Tournament at T-Mobile Center on March 13, 2026 in Kansas City, Missouri. (Photo by Ed Zurga/Getty Images) | Getty Images As

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What is the story about?

As the defending Big 12 champions, not to mention a program coming off a trip to the Final Four, Arizona is going to have a giant bullseye on its back for each conference game. And one of its toughest opponents will get to take first aim.

The Wildcats open defense of their Big 12 regular season and conference tournament titles at Iowa State’s Hilton Coliseum on Jan. 2. The UA lost there in 2025, one of four league venues where it has yet to win since joining the Big 12 two years ago, but it has not

lost a conference opener since 2020 at Stanford.

Arizona’s Big 12 home opener is Jan. 6 against UCF, the first of nine conference games at McKale Center. The marquee matchups in Tucson are Jan. 12 against BYU, Feb. 6 against Houston and Feb. 20 against Kansas as well as the nonconference game Nov. 18 against national runner up UConn.

The Wildcats’ home finale is March 3 against Colorado before finishing the regular season March 6 at Houston, where they won last season en route to a 16-2 conference mark. There are two sets of consecutive road games but only one true road trip, that being to West Virginia (Jan. 30) and Cincinnati (Feb. 2).

Arizona will play Big 12 games on every day of the week except Thursday and Saturday, landing on Big Monday twice (Feb. 8 vs. TCU, Feb. 22 at BYU) and also playing a rare Friday league game Jan. 22 at Texas Tech. The Wildcats also lost in Lubbock in 2025.

Unlike last season, when its conference slate was backloaded with the best opponents, this time around Arizona face consecutive NCAA Tournament teams three: the first two games at Iowa State and both Saturday/Big Monday stretches (Feb. 6/8 vs. Houston and TCU, Feb. 20/22 vs. Kansas and at BYU).

The unofficial start to the 2026-27 season is Sept. 26 with the annual Red-Blue Showcase at McKale, then in October the UA will host a trio of exhibition games against San Francisco, San Diego State and Eastern Washington. The first regular season home game is Nov. 5 against Cal Poly, three days after opening the season Nov. 2 in Las Vegas against UCLA.