🏀 Big 12 Releases 2023-24 Conference Opponents for Men’s Hoops
LAWRENCE, Kan. – The Big 12 Conference has announced the opponents for the upcoming 2023-24 men’s basketball season, which includes the four newest members of the conference.
Kansas, the defending Big 12 regular season champions, will host nine conference games at historic Allen Fieldhouse this year. Opponents were selected based on a combination of geography, historical results, and a poll of the coaches to best balance the schedule in terms of travel and competitive balance. A full Big 12 schedule will be released later.
Recently, the Big 12 added four new members to the conference for the upcoming season: BYU, UCF, Cincinnati and Houston. In previous years, each team within the conference competed with each other twice, once at home and once away. Teams will now play five Big 12 opponents twice, then play the other eight conference opponents once, for a total of 18 conference games.
The five schools Kansas will face off against at home and on the road are Baylor, Houston, Kansas State, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State. In addition to these 10 matchups, KU will host BYU, Cincinnati, TCU and Texas at Allen Fieldhouse. The Jayhawks will travel to UCF, Iowa State, Texas Tech and West Virginia for road contests.
Of the four new opponents, Kansas has previously played BYU, Cincinnati and Houston, but will go head-to-head with UCF for the first time in program history this season. The Jayhawks have faced BYU once, resulting in a 71-56 Kansas win on Nov. 26, 2019, in the Maui Invitational. Kansas is 5-2 all-time against Houston, most recently claiming a 95-78 victory on Nov. 20, 2001 in Lahaina, Hawai’i. Kansas trails Cincinnati 4-3 in the all-time series, despite winning the most recent matchup 72-65 on Dec. 4, 1996, in Chicago, Illinois.
Kansas returns three starters from last season in KJ Adams Jr., Dajuan Harris Jr. and Kevin McCullar Jr. Adams started all 36 games for the Jayhawks and was awarded Big 12 Most Improved Player and All-Big 12 Honorable Mention for the 2022-23 season. Harris, the 2023 Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year, averaged 6.2 assists and 2.2 steals per game for the Jayhawks last season and was also named to the Big 12 Championship All-Tournament Team and Big 12 All-Defensive Team.
McCullar returns for his second season at Kansas and redshirt senior year in college after being named a Naismith Defensive Player of the Year Semifinalist last season. Averaging 10.7 points and 7.0 rebounds per game, McCullar earned Big 12 All-Defensive Team and All Big 12 Third Team selections.
The Jayhawks enter the 2023-24 season as reigning Big 12 regular season champions, having won 21 of the last 27 regular season titles, including 17 titles under head coach Bill Self.
Fans can secure season tickets today for all KU home games. Tickets are available for as low as $675 by clicking here or visiting kuathletics.com. Fans who would like to speak to a sales representative regarding all ticket options may also request a call here. To order season tickets, fans must be active members of the Williams Education Fund, which can be done for as little as $100. More information is available by calling 785.864.3141.
Sports Combo Passes for students enrolled for the 2023-24 season are also on sale now via Enroll and Pay. Once you are logged in to your Enroll and Pay account, click “Select Optional Campus Fees” to find the option to add the combo pass to your account. Click here for more student ticket information.
