Arizona will open defense of its Big 12 regular-season and conference tournament titles in a place that has already given it trouble.
The Wildcats begin league play Jan. 2 at Iowa State’s Hilton Coliseum, a tough first swing for a team coming off a Final Four run and carrying the target that comes with being the defending conference champ. Arizona lost in Ames in 2025, and that remains one of four Big 12 road venues where it has yet to win since joining the league two years ago.
The opener also fits a recent pattern: Arizona has not dropped a conference opener since 2020 at Stanford.
After that comes the first home test of league play. Arizona’s Big 12 home opener is Jan. 6 against UCF, the first of nine conference games at McKale Center.
The biggest dates in Tucson are stacked into the middle of the schedule, with BYU coming to town Jan. 12, Houston on Feb. 6 and Kansas on Feb.
- The nonconference spotlight game at home is Nov. 18 against national runner-up UConn.
The regular season ends with a familiar-looking stretch. Arizona hosts Colorado on March 3 in its home finale, then closes March 6 at Houston, where it won last season on the way to a 16-2 conference mark.
The league slate includes two sets of back-to-back road games, but only one true road trip: West Virginia on Jan. 30 followed by Cincinnati on Feb. 2.
Arizona also draws Big 12 games on every day of the week except Thursday and Saturday. It lands on Big Monday twice, hosting TCU on Feb. 8 and visiting BYU on Feb. 22, and it also gets a rare Friday conference game Jan. 22 at Texas Tech.
The Wildcats lost in Lubbock in 2025.
Compared with last season, when the schedule tilted late toward the league’s top teams, this one brings the pressure earlier. Arizona faces consecutive NCAA Tournament teams three different times: the first two games at Iowa State, then the Feb. 6 and Feb. 8 stretch against Houston and TCU, and again on Feb. 20 and Feb. 22 against Kansas and BYU.
Before any of that, the 2026-27 season gets rolling in late September. The unofficial start is Sept. 26 with the annual Red-Blue Showcase at McKale Center. In October, Arizona hosts exhibition games against San Francisco, San Diego State and Eastern Washington.
The regular season opens Nov. 2 in Las Vegas against UCLA, with the first home game set for Nov. 5 against Cal Poly. From there, the nonconference slate runs through a loaded December that includes Auburn, UConn, Maui Invitational games against Colorado State and either Providence or VCU, plus games against LSU-New Orleans, St. John’s at Madison Square Garden, Tennessee Tech, Arkansas in Phoenix, Northern Illinois and Incarnate Word.
Arizona’s 2026-27 schedule
Sept. 26 Red-Blue Showcase
Oct. 13 vs. San Francisco (exhibition)
Oct. 16 vs. San Diego State (exhibition)
Oct. 23 vs. Eastern Washington (exhibition)
Nov. 2 vs. UCLA (Las Vegas)
Nov. 5 vs. Cal Poly
Nov. 10 vs. NAU
Nov. 13 at Auburn
Nov. 18 vs. UConn
Nov. 23 vs. Colorado State (Maui Invitational)
Nov. 24 vs. Providence/VCU (Maui Invitational)
Nov. 25 vs. TBD (Maui Invitational)
Dec. 1 vs. LSU-New Orleans
Dec. 5 vs. St. John’s (MSG)
Dec. 12 vs. Tennessee Tech
Dec. 19 vs. Arkansas (Phoenix)
Dec. 21 vs. Northern Illinois
Dec. 28 vs. Incarnate Word
Jan. 2 at Iowa State
Jan. 6 vs. UCF
Jan. 9 at Kansas State
Jan. 12 vs. BYU
Jan. 16 vs. ASU
Jan. 22 at Texas Tech
Jan. 26 vs. Utah
Jan. 30 at West Virginia
Feb. 2 at Cincinnati
Feb. 6 vs. Houston
Feb. 8 vs. TCU
Feb. 13 at ASU
Feb. 16 at Oklahoma State
Feb. 20 vs. Kansas
Feb. 22 at BYU
Feb. 27 vs. Baylor
March 3 vs. Colorado
March 6 at Houston
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