Arizona won 14 conference games in its first season in the Big 12, a total good enough for a tie for 4th place. Winning 14 this coming season is likely to produce an even better finish.
The Big 12 announced conference pairings for all 16 schools on Thursday, and in doing so confirmed a long-expected move to play only 18 league games in 2025-26 after a 20-game slate this past season. The 2-game reduction leaves each school with three opponents they’ll play both home and away, with six each as home- or road-only foes.
The UA will have home-and-home series with ASU, BYU and Kansas for the upcoming season. It will host Cincinnati, Iowa State, Kansas State, Oklahoma State, Texas Tech and West Virginia and will visit Baylor, Colorado, Houston, TCU, UCF and Utah.
Last year Arizona played home-and-aways with ASU, Baylor, BYU, Iowa State and Texas Tech, sweeping the first two and splitting the other three.
“All in all it’s going to be a tough 18-game deal,” coach Tommy Lloyd said. “I’m excited to see how 18 games is going to work. I think it gives us a chance to have a bye at some point in January, February, which I think is really important for your team.”
By playing only 18 conference games, Arizona has the freedom to schedule 13 contests in nonconference play. Most of those slots have been announced, including marquee matchups with Florida (in Vegas), UCLA (in Los Angeles), at UConn, plus against Auburn at home, Alabama in Birmingham and San Diego State in Phoenix.
Lloyd said Arizona will play 19 home games, which may include one or two exhibitions. This year Division I schools are allowed to face off in preseason games that don’t count, a recent change made by the NCAA, though it’s uncertain if the Wildcats will go that route or stick with non-DI opponents.
Cincinnati, Kansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma State and West Virginia will be making their first appearances in McKale Center as a Big 12 foe. Cincy and OSU have never played there, while West Virginia was last in Tucson in 1992, K-State in 1999 and Kansas in 2008.
Arizona will be making its first trips to TCU and UCF, and 2008 was the Wildcats’ last visit to Houston. The games at Colorado and Utah will feel like home, as those opponents were regularly lumped together as a Pac-12 road trip.
Lloyd said he was not involved in the choice to pair Arizona and Kansas twice—“the conference made the decision; no one asked my opinion, so I’m supportive of it”—but he understands the value of having those programs face off more than once from a TV standpoint.
“Kansas is a great team,” he said. “I mean, come on, they ran the Big 12 for a lot of years. But I think we all know who’s running the Big 12 now, and it’s some school over there in East Texas. We got our eyes on everybody. Obviously Arizona and Kansas, playing is a great thing, and we got to play them twice last year within the span of five days, or whatever, in March. It was awesome, and it’s going to be great that they’re coming here for our fans.”
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