Full Big 12 schedule reveals defending champ Arizona to face challenges from start to finish

Instead of facing the severely backloaded conference schedule they were given last season before racing through it with a 16-2 record, the Wildcats this time will open at Iowa State on Jan. 2 and finish at Houston on March 6, with a mix of difficulty in between.

The Big 12 officially announced its entire conference schedule on Thursday, handing Arizona an assignment that still contains Kansas, BYU and Houston over the final three weeks of the season but also sprinkles in home games against Baylor (Feb. 27) and Colorado (March 3) during the stretch run.

The Wildcats' slightly lighter January schedule, meanwhile, will still include hosting BYU on Jan. 12, playing at Texas Tech on Jan. 22 and finishing the month at West Virginia on Jan. 30, part of a two-game trip that also includes a Feb. 2 date at Cincinnati.

The Wildcats will play every Saturday during the conference season — except for Jan. 23, when they will play at Texas Tech the night beforehand during what is their only week with just one game. Two of UA’s Saturday home games are likely to be marquee events: Feb. 6 against Houston and Feb. 20 against Kansas, while the Jan. 12 BYU game could light up a Tuesday evening at McKale Center.

As the Big 12 previously announced before it specified dates on Thursday, Arizona’s home conference games will also include UCF (Jan. 6), ASU (Jan. 16), Utah (Jan. 26) and TCU (Feb. 8).

UA's away games after Iowa State include playing at Kansas State (Jan. 9) and Texas Tech (Jan. 22) before taking their West Virginia-Cincinnati swing. Arizona will also play at Oklahoma State on Feb. 16, three days after playing at ASU, then play at BYU (Feb. 22) and Houston (March 6) over the final two weeks of the season.

Last season, the Wildcats blitzed through a relatively soft January schedule and built a 10-0 conference mark before losing at Kansas on Feb. 9, then losing to Texas Tech at McKale Center five days later in what turned out to be their only two regular-season losses. They closed the regular season by sweeping their last six games, against BYU, Houston, Baylor, Kansas, Iowa State and Colorado.

While the Wildcats also went on to win the Big 12 Tournament title and reach the Final Four to finish at 36-3 overall, they are replacing three starters plus Big 12 Sixth Man of the Year Tobe Awaka, in addition to Aussie shooter Anthony Dell’Orso, this season.

But they have brought in a highly regarded group of newcomers that includes five transfers — if forward RJ Godfrey can get cleared for a fifth season of eligibility through the courts — and four freshmen, including impact wings Caleb Holt and Cameron Holmes.

“It’s really difficult to compare (teams) because it’s just so different,” said forward Ivan Kharchenkov, one of UA’s two returning starters along with center Motiejus Krivas. “You have a core of four or five players that just left, who played here for two, three, four years, so it’s tough to say. The biggest similarity is me and Mo and coach (Tommy Lloyd) staying but I’m just excited for all the new guys who are here.”

The Wildcats' upside is expected to be regarded similarly to last preseason, when they opened at No. 13 in the Associated Press Top 25 poll before spending 15 weeks in either the No. 1 or No. 2 spots during their regular-season rise.

While the major preseason polls have yet to be announced, ESPN's latest preseason Top 25 includes UA at No. 6, Texas Tech at No. 9, Houston at 17, BYU at No. 19 and Kansas at 25.

On the inside, there may be no better person to evaluate this season's Wildcats than walk-on guard Addison Arnold, who joined the program for Lloyd’s first season in 2021-22 before going on an LDS mission the next two years and playing a reserve role over the past two.

So far, Arnold indicated, it’s business as usual.

At least.

“We’re as talented as ever,” Arnold said. “We’ve got a bunch of talented young guys, some key returners. So the goal is the same as it was last year — to go win championships, and I think we have the correct personnel to do it.”