Kansas State’s first Big 12 schedule under Casey Alexander is set, and the league has given the Wildcats a January and February full of heavy lifting.
The conference released its 2026-27 slate Thursday afternoon, and K-State’s path includes home dates with Arizona, Cincinnati, Colorado, Kansas and TCU among the most notable stops along the way. The Wildcats will play an 18-game Big 12 schedule, with nine games at home and nine on the road.
K-State opens league play on Saturday, Jan. 2 at Baylor, marking the first time the Wildcats will start Big 12 play there. From there, the schedule quickly tightens up: three of the next four games are at Bramlage Coliseum, including back-to-back home matchups against Houston on Tuesday, Jan. 5 and Final Four participant Arizona on Saturday, Jan. 9.
After a trip to West Virginia on Tuesday, Jan. 12, TCU comes to Manhattan on Saturday, Jan.
- The Wildcats then head to Arizona State on Tuesday, Jan. 19 before returning home for the Dillons Sunflower Showdown against Kansas on Saturday, Jan.
- K-State closes out the month with a road game at Iowa State on Saturday, Jan.
February starts with a pair of home games, as Oklahoma State visits on Wednesday, Feb. 3 and Colorado follows on Saturday, Feb. 6.
Then comes a two-game swing through the Beehive State, with road dates at Utah on Wednesday, Feb. 10 and BYU on Saturday, Feb. 13.
The Wildcats return home for Arizona State on Tuesday, Feb. 16, then go back on the road to Cincinnati on Saturday, Feb. 20.
Texas Tech visits Bramlage on Wednesday, Feb. 24, and K-State heads to Kansas on Saturday, Feb. 27 before wrapping the regular-season road slate at UCF on Wednesday, March 3. The home finale comes against Cincinnati on Saturday, March 6.
The Big 12 Tournament will run Tuesday-Saturday, March 9-13 at T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, while the women’s championship is set for Thursday-Tuesday, March 5-9 at the same venue.
The league office noted that all 16 Big 12 teams play every other member at least once. K-State also has home-and-home series with Arizona State and Cincinnati, along with the annual rivalry series against Kansas. The Sun Devils and Bearcats are both repeat opponents from recent seasons: K-State last faced Arizona State in a home-and-home in 2024-25 and Cincinnati in 2023-24.
Game times and television assignments will be announced later.
Tickets are already on sale for the 2026-27 season. Single-game tickets for the nine-game Big 12 home schedule go on sale in October.
Single-game tickets for the nine-game non-conference schedule and the Wildcat Classic matchup with Wichita State at the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City will be available online only on Tuesday, Sept. 29 at 5 p.m. CT, with in-person phone orders beginning Wednesday, Sept. 30 at 8:30 a.m.
CT.
K-State can be reached toll free at (800) 221.CATS (2287) and online at www.kstatesports.com/tickets.
A few other details stand out on the schedule. K-State and Baylor have never met in a Big 12 opener before, though the teams could also face each other in a non-conference game at the Players Era 16 in Las Vegas in November.
Houston, which has beaten K-State in all three Big 12-era meetings, returns to Manhattan for the home conference opener on Jan. 5.
Arizona comes to Bramlage for only the second time, and the Wildcats are 6-0 against the Wildcats in Manhattan, including a 73-70 win in 2025.
The rivalry with Kansas remains the centerpiece. The teams will meet in Manhattan on Jan. 23 and in Lawrence on Feb.
- The home-and-home series has been played every year since 1912, and the teams have met at least once every year since 1907.
It is the sixth-most played rivalry in Division I men’s basketball, with 305 meetings.
K-State’s trip to Iowa State sends the Wildcats back to Hilton Coliseum for the first time since their upset there in 2025. Oklahoma State and Colorado both visit Manhattan in early February, and K-State won both home matchups in their last meetings there in 2025.
The Utah-BYU road stretch mirrors a similar trip from 2025. K-State and Utah have split their first two conference meetings, with the Utes taking a 74-69 win at home in 2025, while the Wildcats have never won in Provo.
Cincinnati comes up twice in the final five league games, first on the road Feb. 20 and then again in Manhattan on March 6. Texas Tech arrives on Feb. 24 having won four straight in the series, and K-State’s trip to UCF will be just its second there and first since 2025.
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