Allen Fieldhouse has a way of making Kansas look like a different team.
That much was on display in the 2025-26 season, when the Jayhawks opened Big 12 play 1-2 and seemed to have slipped off the national radar. Then No. 2 Iowa State came into AFH, Kansas rolled to an 84-63 win, and the Jayhawks suddenly ripped off an eight-game winning streak that featured five home victories.
Away from Lawrence, though, the picture changes fast. Kansas faces a brutal slate of road tests this season, and some are clearly tougher than others. Here’s how the Jayhawks’ away games stack up from easiest to hardest.
At the bottom of the list is Utah on January 6th. The Utes lost their top three scorers from last season, with Terrence Brown heading to the UNC Tar Heels, Dom McHenry exhausting his eligibility, and Keanu Dawes leaving Utah to join Kansas. Add in the fact that this is only Alex Jensen’s second season as head coach, and it’s hard to make the case for Utah climbing much higher.
Next comes TCU on February 24th. Jamie Dixon is rebuilding after losing two elite players in forward David Punch and Liutauras Lelevicius.
The Horned Frogs do bring in No. 1 JUCO recruit Trent Lincoln and small forward Ricards Aizpurs as part of a seven-man class, but there are still real questions about how complete this group will be.
Even so, Dixon pushed Kansas to the wire last season.
Kansas State lands at No. 8 on January 23rd. New head coach Casey Alexander walks into a roster with 12 new players from the high school ranks and the portal, which makes this a tricky early conference game for a team still trying to sort itself out.
Cincinnati checks in at No. 7 on January 19th. Jerrod Calhoun, the former Bob Huggins assistant, did excellent work last season at Utah State, leading the Aggies to the second round of the NCAA Tournament and giving Arizona a strong fight. Still, this is year one for Calhoun with the Bearcats, and the roster could feature 13 transfers, which leaves plenty of uncertainty.
Baylor sits at No. 6 on March 6th. The more this one gets examined, the more it feels like the Bears might be too low.
Scott Drew has rarely had trouble winning in Waco, with Baylor finishing under 20 wins only three times since the 2010-11 season, including last year. This offseason also brought in 5-star Dylan Mingo, his brother Kayden - who averaged 13.7 points last season at Penn State - and Yale small forward Isaac Celiscar.
That’s a group that could easily make Baylor even tougher than this ranking suggests.
BYU comes in at No. 5 on January 9th. The Cougars are landing the nation’s No. 6 player in the class of 2026, Bruce Branch III, and also added Michigan State transfer Jaxon Kohler, a player Kansas had been heavily linked with. The talent is obvious, and the last trip to Provo for Kansas ended in a 91-57 loss, which does not exactly soften the edge here.
Iowa State is No. 4 on February 13th. T.J.
Otzelberger keeps finding ways to steer through injuries and talent issues, and Hilton Coliseum remains a nightmare for visitors. The Cyclones went 16-1 there last season, 15-2 the season before, and 18-0 the season before that.
That trend speaks for itself.
Arizona takes the No. 3 spot on February 20th. Tommy Lloyd keeps stacking talent year after year, and this class looks especially loaded.
According to 247Sports, the Wildcats are bringing in 5-star and No. 3 player Caleb Holt, 4-star and No. 36 overall player Cameron Holmes, plus two 4-star international prospects in center Endurance Aiyamenkhue and power forward Maksim Brnovic. That doesn’t even include transfers RJ Godfrey and Derek Dixon, who headline the transfer class.
Houston lands at No. 2 on February 1st. There’s an argument for this being higher or lower, because the Cougars can be inconsistent when they’re off.
They went 6-3 in true road games last season, but this one is at the Fertitta Center, where Kelvin Sampson’s team usually turns the screws. Houston can grind opponents down late or beat them in a shootout, and the building has become one of the sport’s most hostile environments.
And at No. 1 is UConn on December 12th. Dan Hurley keeps proving he’s as reliable as anyone in the game at producing results.
Kansas already saw what that looks like when the Huskies beat the Jayhawks in AFH last season in a 61-56 game that fit Hurley’s style perfectly. This UConn roster is loaded again, with Braylon Mullins back, Duke small forward Nikolas Khamenia added, Seton Hall center Najai Hines in the mix, and two top-50 recruits in Colben Landrew and Junior County.
Solo Ball and Silas Demary Jr. are still there, too.
In Other News...
Kansas Suddenly Needs Tate Nagy More Than Ever
Kansas has stumbled out to a 1-2 start, and the early-season hit list has already made depth and playmaking feel like urgent issues. In that kind of stretch, Tate Nagy has become a particularly useful development for the Jayhawks. The sophomore wide receiver and returner has taken a clear step forward, giving the offense and special teams a jolt at a time when the team has needed almost every positive it can find.
Lance Leipold has noticed the difference, pointing to Nagys competitiveness and the way he has shown up even as the rest of the roster has dealt with injuries and uneven results. For a program looking to steady itself quickly, that kind of growth matters beyond the box score. Kansas does not have the luxury of waiting long for more emergence, and Nagy has started to look like one of the few players capable of swinging a game when the Jayhawks need it most. [Read more 🡒]
Kansas Kentucky Clash Already Carries More Than Early-Season Hype
Kansas and Kentucky are back on the same stage in Chicago this fall, and the matchup already feels like more than a standard early-season showcase. The Jayhawks will take on the Wildcats at the United Center as part of the 16th annual Champions Classic, with Duke and Michigan State opening the doubleheader earlier in the night. It is the kind of November event that tends to draw attention on name alone, but this one carries an added layer because of how often these programs have been tied together in the national conversation.
For Kansas fans, the setting is familiar but the context is not. This will be the first Champions Classic in history without Bill Self opposite John Calipari, a coaching rivalry that helped define the event for years and gave the matchup an extra edge beyond the rankings and the venue. Calipari is now at Arkansas, leaving a different feel to a meeting that still arrives with plenty of stakes and enough intrigue to make the opener in Chicago worth watching closely. [Read more 🡒]
Kansas Suddenly Needed This Bye Week More Than Anyone Expected
Kansas has been hit by an early-season wave of injuries that has already started to reshape the feel of its 2026 start, with several key contributors limited or sidelined before conference play even arrives. The Jayhawks have had to lean into their next-man-up approach, and quarterback Isaiah Marshall has talked about that mindset as the group tries to keep moving while bodies continue to pile up across the roster.
The pause in the schedule now looks a lot more valuable than it did a few weeks ago. Lance Leipold has made clear the running back room is a concern, and the bye gives Kansas a chance to breathe while players such as Daveon Crouch, Yasin Willis, Cole Ballard, Carson Bruhn, Cam Pickett and TreVon McAlpine work toward getting back. How many of them are ready when Big 12 play begins could go a long way toward shaping the Jayhawks' early ceiling. [Read more 🡒]