Unable to work around its home-game minimum, Arizona calls off game against Purdue in Las Vegas

The Wildcats and Boilermakers met last season in Indianapolis, with Purdue winning 92-84 over then-top-ranked UA, and a "semi-neutral" return game was considered for next season as part of a series that was announced last June.

However, the rematch was never certain to be played because Arizona has a self-imposed 18-game home minimum for season-ticket packages and financial planning purposes. When the first game was announced, UA said only that a series of future neutral site games was possible and the school confirmed Thursday it will not be played next season.

The prospect of a UA-Purdue rematch remained unclear throughout last season while Arizona looked into alternatives -- and how many Big 12 road games it would play -- before the NCAA's Andy Katz tweeted that both head coaches confirmed the game is off.

It is not clear if the game might be played in a future season in Las Vegas or another semi-neutral site.

Arizona is expecting a 20-game Big 12 schedule next season, though the conference has not announced the length of its schedule, and the Wildcats are already contracted to play five games away from McKale Center during the nonconference season: At Wisconsin, against Alabama in Birmingham and three games in the Battle 4 Atlantis at Nassau, Bahamas.

That leaves only six regular-season games for UA to play at home and meet the 18-game minimum, in addition to its expected 10 Big 12 home games and two exhibition games. Teams participating in multi-team events such as the Battle 4 Atlantis can play a maximum of 31 regular-season games.

Arizona is scheduled to host Duke on Nov. 21 at McKale Center but still has five other home games yet to schedule. All are expected to be one-time guarantee games against mid- or low-major opponents.