Our first-glance reaction to KU's 2024-25 Big 12 hoops schedule

The long-awaited Kansas men’s basketball Big 12 Conference slate was finally released on Thursday, and Bill Self’s Jayhawks will open their first 20-game game Big 12 schedule that includes eight teams that have been in the league for just a year or two on New Year’s Eve against West Virginia at Allen Fieldhouse.

No, you’re not alone in thinking that the Big 12 schedule comes out later and later each year, but with an expanding conference and the challenges of finding the right TV slots for the right games with the new roster, it at least makes sense this time around.

Believe it or not, the 2024-25 college basketball season is fast-approaching, with Late Night in the Phog now just three weeks away and the season opener a couple of weeks after that.

With that in mind, let’s take a first-glance look at what stands out about KU’s 2024-25 Big 12 slate.

Happy New Year!

As mentioned above, the Jayhawks will tip off the Big 12 season with a home game against West Virginia on Dec. 31. Don’t look now, but the Mountaineers are quickly becoming one of KU’s longest-standing rivalries in the conference. There, of course, have been some classic games between these two in the past. Especially at Allen Fieldhouse. But it will be interesting to see what the new-look WVU squad looks like with the ties to the Bob Huggins Press Virginia days now completely cut. Just a hunch here, but I'd bank on this being a day game, with New Year's Eve festivities taking place later that night.

Back in Boulder

It was supposed to happen in 2021, but the COVID-19 pandemic wiped out the game about an hour before the teams were supposed to take the floor. That was a major bummer for us old Big Eight fans, who were looking forward to seeing the Jayhawks back at what used to be known as the Coors Event Center. Called CU Events Center today, KU’s return to the venue on Feb. 24, 2025 should be fun on a couple of levels. For one, the Jayhawks always used to draw well there, with lots of folks from Western Kansas and KU fans living in Colorado making their way to that game. For two Tad Boyle’s got a pretty good thing going out there and his program should provide yet another tough road test for the Jayhawks.

Toughest Stretch

With all due respect to those final two games of the regular season — at Houston and home vs. Arizona — it’s a three-game stretch in early February that caught my eye. At Baylor, home versus Iowa State and at Kansas State. All three teams could be ranked — two of them in the top 5 or 10 — and one is your in-state rival on the road. Get through that with three wins and the expectations will rise even higher than they already are.

Utah road swing

Kudos to the Big 12’s schedule makers for making travel to some of these new schools easy on the road teams. Such will be the case for the KU men in mid-February, when they play at Utah on Feb. 15 and again at BYU on Feb. 18, giving the Jayhawks the option to just stay out there and move from Salt Lake City to Provo (a 45-minute drive south down Interstate-15) rather than coming home and then heading back out there. The UCF volleyball team got that treatment this week, when they played at KU on Wednesday and are slated to play at K-State on Friday night. And the KU women’s schedule has another potential two-stop trip, with the Jayhawks playing at West Virginia on Feb. 5 and at Cincinnati on Feb. 8. I’m sure there are several others throughout the conference. It remains to be seen how every program treats these trips, but you have to think that many of them will take the easiest travel plan possible. Pretty cool.

Early road trips

After opening the season at home against West Virginia, under the leadership of first-year coach Darian DeVries, four of the Jayhawks’ next six games — in a 17-day stretch — will be away from home — at UCF (Jan. 5), at Cincinnati (Jan. 11), at Iowa State (Jan. 15) and at TCU (Jan. 22). While I don’t quite think this will be the toughest stretch of the season for Kansas, it will require them to be pretty dialed in and in sync early on. It also opens up the opportunity, with a little road success, for the Jayhawks to take control of the conference race, with road wins always being worth more in Self’s eyes.

Circle ‘em

Finally, there are always a handful of games that get circled in a little bolder pen on any KU conference schedule. At least by the fans, if not the players and coaches, as well. Here’s my best guess for the five games that get that treatment this year.

1 - at UCF, Jan. 5 – It’s not the sexiest matchup, nor is there much history between the two programs. But the recent history is all you need. Last year, after getting up big early, the Jayhawks gave this one away, losing to UCF in their first-ever home sellout. That loss set the tone for KU’s struggles on the road throughout the Big 12 season, and with this matchup being Game 2 of 20 in the conference slate, getting this one has the potential to be another tone setter for the season’s final three months.

2 - vs. Kansas State, Jan. 18 – Sunflower Showdown Part I takes place at home this year instead of down I-70 like during the past couple of years.

3 - at Kansas State, Feb. 8 – Don’t worry. Part II is circled, too. KU hasn’t won in Manhattan since winning 78-75 during the national championship season, three whole years ago.

4 - at Houston, March 3 – One of the worst road losses in recent memory took place at Houston last season – 76-46 on March 9. There are enough players and coaches on this Kansas roster who remember that feeling and won’t want to experience it again.

5 - vs. Arizona, March 8 – It’s always been a big deal for Arizona to come to Allen, but for it to happen on the final day of the regular season with potential conference title implications should make this the biggest one yet.

Here's the full schedule for the upcoming season ⬇️ ⬇️ ⬇️