KU basketball schedule is all but set; Jayhawks to open Big 12 season at Texas Tech
The Kansas men’s basketball team will open the 2020-21 Big 12 Conference season with a pair of games in December, the league announced on Monday.
KU will meet Texas Tech on Dec. 17 in Lubbock, Texas, then return home to meet West Virginia on Dec. 22 in Allen FIeldhouse. The Texas Tech game will be the earliest Big 12 contest for KU in the 25-year history of the league and the earliest league game for the Jayhawks since Dec. 13, 1986, against Colorado.
Kansas will be part of three ESPN Big Monday games: Jan. 18 at Baylor; at home versus Oklahoma State on Feb. 8 and at Texas on Feb. 22.
Kansas has been featured on ESPN Big Monday at least three times per season since the inception of the Big 12 Conference in 1996-97.
The Big 12 schedule contains an open week for possible makeup games before the conference tournament, March 10-13 at the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City. There is also a winter break in the schedule, after KU’s Dec. 22 game vs. West Virginia.
KU announced part of its nonconference schedule Monday. The Jayhawks will meet Kentucky on Dec. 1 at a yet-to-be-determined location in the Champions Classic. KU will play host to North Dakota State on Dec. 5, Creighton on Dec. 8, Omaha on Dec. 11 and Tarleton State on Dec. 13. Three more nonconference games will be added, according to a release from KU.
KU’s nonconference schedule was affected following ESPN’s Monday announcement it would not be holding several men’s college basketball events in Orlando, Florida.
The Jayhawks had planned on opening the season against Boise State on Nov. 25 in a first-round Wooden Legacy game in the Disney Wide World of Sports facility, followed by a game against UCLA or Seton Hall the following day. KU was to meet Kentucky in the Champions Classic on Dec. 1 in Orlando. ESPN reported the Champions Classic could be moved to another location, perhaps Indianapolis.
“ESPN Events set out to create a protected environment for teams to participate in early-season events in Orlando. Based on certain challenges surrounding testing protocols, we opted to resume these tournaments during the 2021-22 season,” ESPN announced in a statement.
ESPN had planned on holding these events in the same bubble used by the NBA to complete its regular season and playoffs: Wooden Legacy, Champions Classic, Charleston Classic, Myrtle Beach Invitational, NIT Season Tip-Off, Orlando Invitational, Jimmy V Classic and Diamond Head Classic.
KU is planning on in-person attendance for men’s basketball games at Allen Fieldhouse this season, according to an email sent to season ticket holders Monday. Capacity will be about 1,500 in the 16,300-seat arena, with 850 seats going to donors, according to the email.
KU men’s basketball schedule
DECEMBER: 1-Kentucky, TBA; 5-North Dakota State; 8-Creighton; 11-Omaha; 13-Tarleton State; 17-at Texas Tech; 22-West Virginia
JANUARY: 2-Texas; 5-at TCU; 9-Oklahoma; 12-at Oklahoma State; 16-Iowa State; 18-at Baylor; 23-at Oklahoma; 26-TCU; 30-at Tennessee
FEBRUARY: 2-Kansas State; 6-at West Virginia; 8-Oklahoma State; 13-at Iowa State; 16-at Kansas State; 20-Texas Tech; 22-at Texas; 27-Baylor
KU women’s schedule
KU’s women’s team announced its schedule on Monday. The Jayhawks open the regular season with back-to-back home games against Northern Colorado on Wednesday, Nov. 25 and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Sunday, Nov. 29. First Big 12 game is against Oklahoma on Dec. 10 in Allen Fieldhouse.
The Big 12 women’s tournament is March 11-14 at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City.
NOVEMBER: 25-Northern Colorado; 29-Texas A&M Corpus Christi
DECEMBER: 3-at Mississippi; 6-Oral Roberts; 10-Oklahoma; 14-Texas Rio Grande Valley; 17-at Texas; 21-North Dakota State; 29-New Mexico State
JANUARY: 2-West Virginia; 6-at Iowa State; 9-at Oklahoma State; 13-Baylor; 17-at TCU; 20-Texas Tech; 23-Kansas State; 27-at Oklahoma; 30-Oklahoma State
FEBRUARY: 3-at Baylor; 6-TCU; 10-at West Virginia; 13-at Kansas State; 17-Iowa State; 20-at Texas Tech; 24-Texas
This story was originally published October 26, 2020 at 3:41 PM with the headline "KU basketball schedule is all but set; Jayhawks to open Big 12 season at Texas Tech."
