The Big 12 Conference released its 18-game men’s basketball schedule for the 2026-27 season on Thursday, featuring marquee matchups like Arizona visiting Texas Tech on January 22 and Kansas playing at BYU on January 9, while opening conference play across all 16 teams on Saturday, January 2.
Big 12 Unveils Full 2026-27 Conference Schedule and Opening Slate
The Big 12 Conference officially released the 2026-27 Monster Energy Big 12 Men’s Basketball Conference schedule from Irving, Texas, setting the stage for an 18-game league slate. Under the format, each program will play a home-and-home with three other Conference opponents, and face the other 12 opponents once, with six at home and six on the road. Big 12 regular season play opens on Saturday, Jan. 2 with all 16 teams in action and closes on Saturday, March 6. The season then culminates in Kansas City for the 2027 Phillips 66 Big 12 Men’s Basketball Tournament at T-Mobile Center Tuesday, March 9 to Saturday, March 13. Tip-off times and television assignments for the Big 12 schedule will be announced at a later date. The college basketball season will open on Monday, Nov. 2.
The schedule release follows a showing during the 2025-26 season that saw the Big 12 see eight teams qualify for the 2026 NCAA Tournament with three schools appearing in the Sweet 16, and league champion Arizona advancing to the Final Four for the first time since 2001. The Conference then had a historic showing at the 2026 NBA Draft with a Conference-record 13 overall selections, a league-record nine first round selections and the No. 1 and No. 2 overall picks in BYU’s AJ Dybantsa and Kansas’ Darryn Peterson, respectively. The 2026-27 Big 12 season will again feature some of the nation’s premier young talent with six incoming recruits ranked in the top 25 of the class of 2026, including three in the top five, according to 247Sports. 247 also ranks five Big 12 schools in its top 25 high school recruiting classes for 2026.
Key Conference Matchups and Title Contenders
Arizona enters the season as the favorite to win the Big 12. The Wildcats are coming off a historic season after reaching the Final Four for the first time since 2001. Star big man Motiejus Krivas, Swiss Army Knife wing Ivan Kharchenkov and incoming five-star recruit Caleb Holt will lead Arizona as the program looks to take another step on the heels of Tommy Lloyd signing an extension after turning down the North Carolina job during the week of the Final Four. Krivas and Kharchenkov are both names to keep an eye on for the 2027 NBA Draft, while Holt should be in contention to go No. 1 overall if everything goes well.
Texas Tech is another team to keep an eye on as one of the top contenders in the league, especially if Darrion Williams and Donovan Atwell are ruled eligible in pending five-for-five lawsuits. Williams was a key member of Texas Tech’s squad that reached the Elite Eight in 2025 before transferring to NC State last offseason. Star forward JT Toppin is still recovering from a torn ACL suffered last season. When he played last season, he looked like a first-team All-American before tearing his ACL in mid-February against Arizona State. The Red Raiders went 12-6 in Big 12 play during the 2025-26 season, finishing tied for third.
And of course, you can’t forget about Houston. The Cougars won the Big 12 regular season title back-to-back years in 2024 and 2025 during their first two seasons in the league. Houston’s roster is headlined by big man Joseph Tugler, who is one of the best defenders in the sport. In total, four teams (Arizona, Iowa State, Houston and BYU) are ranked in Gary Parrish’s Top 25 and 1. Eight teams reached the NCAA Tournament in 2026, and with the Big Dance expanding to 76 teams starting this season, the conference is eyeing at least 10 bids in 2027.
Tournament Road Map and Postseason Culmination
With the schedule set, the biggest games that will impact the Big 12 title race include Arizona facing Texas Tech on Jan. 22 at United Supermarkets Arena in Lubbock, Texas, where Arizona is set to face Texas Tech just once in the regular season in what has the potential to be one of the top conference games of the year, with all eyes on when Toppin returns to the lineup for Texas Tech.
Texas Tech is set to open Big 12 play at Cincinnati on January 2, 2027 and will close out the regular season by hosting BYU on March 5 at United Supermarkets Arena. The Red Raiders start Big 12 play on the road for the first time since Grant McCasland’s first season in Lubbock after opening with home games the past two seasons. The trip to Ohio to take on the Bearcats is Tech’s second ever trip to Cincinnati after earning an 81-71 win in 2025. Tech is set to host Baylor (Jan. 6), Arizona State (Jan. 12), Iowa State (Jan. 16), Arizona (Jan. 22), UCF (Jan. 30), West Virginia (Feb. 13), Houston (Feb. 15), Cincinnati (Feb. 27) and BYU (March 5) while having road games at Cincinnati (Jan. 2), TCU (Jan. 9), Houston (Jan. 19), Oklahoma State (Jan. 27), Colorado (Feb. 2), Kansas (Feb. 6), UCF (Feb. 20), Kansas State (Feb. 24) and Utah (March 2). Tech will host Houston on ESPN Big Monday on Feb. 15 at 8 p.m. at United Supermarkets Arena and is scheduled to play two Friday home games – first against Arizona on Friday, Jan. 22 and then the regular-season finale against BYU on Friday, March 5. Texas Tech opens the 2026-27 season with a five-game home stand, starting against Jackson State on Monday, November 2 and a matchup against Illinois set for Tuesday, Nov. 10 at United Supermarkets Arena, with a non-conference schedule that also includes playing at the Players Era Sixteen in Las Vegas, a matchup against USC in Fort Worth and taking on Duke on Dec. 21 at Madison Square Garden.
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