Big 12 announces conference schedules for KU men's and women's basketball

The fieldhouse is bathed in crimson and blue lights during player introductions prior to the game against Eastern Illinois on Tuesday, November 28, 2023 at Allen Fieldhouse. Photo by Nick Krug

The Big 12 Conference announced full conference schedules for the revamped 16-team league on Thursday.

The Kansas men's and women's basketball teams will both begin league play before the start of the new year – as early as December 21 for the women.

Men's basketball has an earlier start as the Big 12's schedule expanded to 20 games, with KU playing five teams twice and 10 teams once; The women's schedule still consists of 18 league games, with three teams playing twice and 12 playing once, although the Big 12 Tournament begins earlier.

Here's more information about the route each team will take as they compete for position in the expanded conference throughout the winter.

Men's basketball

As the Jayhawks look to return to their championship heights of three seasons ago, they will embark on a longer league campaign than ever before that will take them to some new and unusual goals.

But first, KU opens at home against West Virginia on December 31st and then travels back to the site of last season's surprising loss, UCF, on January 5th.

The Jayhawks will host new conference foe Arizona State on Jan. 8 before traveling to Cincinnati and Iowa State four days apart (Jan. 11 and Jan. 15) and then returning home for the first part of the Sunflower Showdown (Jan. 18). . January). ).

Then comes a trip to Fort Worth, Texas, where KU has not been during the 2023-24 season, to face TCU (Jan. 22) before a weekend home game against Houston (Jan. 25) and a rematch against UCF (January 28).

The Jayhawks will open the month of February at Baylor (February 1) and then welcome Iowa State back to Allen Fieldhouse for Big Monday (February 3). Next up is a quick second matchup with Kansas State (February 8) and a welcome back to the Big 12 for Colorado (February 11).

The following week brings an interesting structure as the Jayhawks play back-to-back games at Utah State against the Utes (February 15) and three days later against BYU (February 18). They play a home game against new-look Oklahoma State (February 22) before returning to Mountain Time to face Colorado shortly after (February 24).

The final stretch of conference play features a series of top matchups: at home against Texas Tech (March 1), at Houston on Big Monday (March 3) and at home against Arizona (March 8).

The Jayhawks will field a team that combines years of experience in the form of KJ Adams, Hunter Dickinson and Dajuan Harris Jr. with highly touted transfers like Rylan Griffen, Zeke Mayo and AJ Storr as they look to advance further in the tournament the second round.

KU will play an exhibition at Arkansas on October 25th and its season begins in earnest on November 4th against Howard.

Here is the complete Big 12 schedule:

December 31 (Tuesday) – vs. West Virginia

January 5 (Sunday) – at UCF

Jan. 8 (Wed.) – vs. Arizona State

Jan. 11 (Sat.) – in Cincinnati

Jan. 15 (Wed.) – at Iowa State

Jan. 18 (Sat.) – vs. Kansas State

Jan. 22 (Wed.) – at TCU

Jan. 25 (Sat.) – vs. Houston

January 28 (Tuesday) – vs. UCF

Feb. 1 (Sat.) – at Baylor

Feb. 3 (Mon.) – vs. Iowa State

Feb. 8 (Sat.) – at Kansas State

February 11 (Tuesday) – vs. Colorado

Feb. 15 (Sat.) – in Utah

February 18 (Tuesday) – at BYU

Feb. 22 (Sat.) – vs. Oklahoma State

February 24 (Mon.) – in Colorado

March 1 (Sat.) – vs. Texas Tech

March 3 (Mon) – in Houston

March 8 (Sat.) – vs. Arizona

Women's basketball

The Jayhawks will showcase their new-look roster for the first time in conference play when KU hosts Baylor at Allen Fieldhouse on Dec. 21.

The match against the Bears produced one of the Jayhawks' most memorable victories of the 2023-24 season, a 21-point victory for KU during a period in which Baylor was the No. 4 team in the country. The Bears got some revenge when they stopped KU's momentum in the return game late in the season; However, the contest in Lawrence will be the only contest between the two teams this year. The three schools KU will face twice are Iowa State, Kansas State and Oklahoma State.

After the opener, the Jayhawks will take a holiday break before traveling to Hilton Coliseum to face ISU (January 1) and to Gallagher-Iba Arena to face OSU (January 4). They then play three of their next four games at Allen Fieldhouse (TCU on Jan. 7, Arizona State on Jan. 16, Arizona on Jan. 19) with a game at newcomer Colorado in between (Jan. 11).

From there, KU heads back on the road to Utah (Jan. 22) and Houston (Jan. 25) before two challenging home games on Feb. 2 against rival Kansas State and West Virginia, last year at Allen Fieldhouse won February 5th.

The schedule continues with the Jayhawks' first-ever road game in Cincinnati (Feb. 8), followed by a rematch against Iowa State (Feb. 8) and a chance to welcome UCF to Lawrence (Feb. 18).

KU then repeats some of its most exciting matchups from last season at Kansas State (Feb. 22) and BYU (Feb. 25) before facing OSU (March 2) on Senior Day.

This year's team lost much of last season's veteran experience, but has used the transfer portal to bring in players like wings Elle Evans and Jordan Webster, along with returning guards S'Mya Nichols and Wyvette Mayberry, with a number of candidates for one extended deployment time to fill the post to replace Taiyanna Jackson.

KU opens its season with an appearance against Washburn on Nov. 1 before hosting Lindenwood five days later.

Here is the complete Big 12 schedule:

Dec. 21 (Sat.) – vs. Baylor

Jan. 1 (Wed.) – at Iowa State

Jan. 4 (Sat.) – at Oklahoma State

January 7 (Tuesday) – vs. TCU

Jan. 11 (Sat.) – in Colorado

Jan. 16 (Thu.) – vs. Arizona State

January 19 (Sunday) – vs. Arizona

Jan. 22 (Wed.) – in Utah

Jan. 25 (Sat.) – in Houston

Jan. 29 (Wed.) – at Texas Tech

February 2 (Sunday) – vs. Kansas State

February 5 (Wed.) – in West Virginia

February 8 (Sat.) – in Cincinnati

Feb. 15 (Sat.) – vs. Iowa State

February 18 (Tuesday) – vs. UCF

Feb. 22 (Sat.) – at Kansas State

February 25 (Tuesday) – at BYU

March 2 (Sunday) – vs. Oklahoma State

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Written by Henry Greenstein

Henry is a sports editor at Lawrence Journal-World and KUsports.com and serves as a KU beat writer while managing daily sports coverage. He previously worked as a sports reporter at The Bakersfield Californian and is a graduate of Washington University in St. Louis (BA, Linguistics) and Arizona State University (MA, Sports Journalism). Despite being from Los Angeles, he's often been told that he doesn't give off “California vibes,” whatever that means.

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