Top Three Arizona Basketball Non-Conference Games

Since taking over Arizona, head coach Tommy Lloyd has been one of the most successful up-and-coming coaches in college basketball going 112-33 over the course of the last four seasons making the NCAA Tournament each season and leading the program to three Sweet Sixteen appearances.

This past season, Lloyd and his program entered a new era of Arizona basketball with the Wildcats leaving the Pac-12 and joining the Big 12 Conference. In UA’s first season in a new conference, the team went 24-13 while finishing third in the conference standings.

In the Big 12 Tournament, the Wildcats made it to the conference title game and fell 72-64 to Houston, which would go on to play for the National Title.

Mar 23, 2025; Seattle, WA, USA; Arizona Wildcats guard Caleb Love (1) reacts against the Oregon Ducks in the first half at Climate Pledge Arena. Mandatory Credit: Steven Bisig-Imagn Images | Steven Bisig-Imagn Images

Following the end to the season, Arizona lost star guard Caleb Love to graduation and forward Carter Bryant to the NBA Draft where he went No. 14 overall to the San Antonio Spurs.

Plus, Arizona saw two key players in KJ Lewis and Henri Veesaar leave the program and transfer to Power 4 programs.

Despite that, Arizona will be fully loaded again with four key returners in Jaden Badley, Tobe Awaka, Anthony Dell’Orso and Motiejus Krivas. Plus, Lloyd and his staff signed the No. 2 recruiting class according to 24/7 Sports.

We are inching closer to the start of the college basketball season with Arizona tipping off its schedule against defending national champions in the Florida Gators in Las Vegas 39 days from now.

The Big 12 is regarded as one of the top conferences in college hoops and the conference slate of games will be hard for any team to navigate this season.

Feb 11, 2025; Manhattan, Kansas, USA; Arizona Wildcats head coach Tommy Lloyd talks to guard Jaden Bradley (0) during a timeout in the second half against the Kansas State Wildcats at Bramlage Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Scott Sewell-Imagn Images | Scott Sewell-Imagn Images

Arizona and Lloyd have set up one of the toughest non-conference slate of games in the country with the Wildcats facing Florida, UConn, UCLA, Alabama, Auburn and San Diego State as the marquee games.

The Wildcats have released their full non-conference schedule for the 2025-26 season and features eight home games with Auburn headlining the McKale Center slate of games.

Now, Arizona and the Big 12 have released the dates for the conference games with times and stations still to be announced.

Arizona Conference Schedule

Jan. 3 Utah (Away)

Jan. 7 Kansas State (Home)

Feb 26, 2025; Tucson, Arizona, USA; Arizona Wildcats forward Carter Bryant (9) points after he makes a three pointer over Utah Utes forward Ezra Ausar (2) during the first half at McKale Center. Mandatory Credit: Aryanna Frank-Imagn Images | Aryanna Frank-Imagn Images

Jan. 10 TCU (Away)

Jan. 14 ASU (Home)

Jan. 21 Cincinnati (Home)

Jan. 24 West Virginia (Home)

Jan. 26 BYU (Away)

Jan. 31 ASU (Away)

Feb. 7 OSU (Home)

Feb. 9 Kansas (Away)

Feb. 14 Texas Tech (Home)

Feb. 18 BYU (Home)

Feb. 21 Houston (Away)

Mar 8, 2025; Lawrence, Kansas, USA; Arizona Wildcats guard Anthony Dell'Orso (3) drives to the basket around Kansas Jayhawks guard Rylan Griffen (6) during the first half at Allen Fieldhouse. Mandatory Credit: William Purnell-Imagn Images | William Purnell-Imagn Images

Feb. 24 Baylor (Away)

Feb. 28 Kansas (Home)

March 2 Iowa State (Home)

March 7 Colorado (Away)

Arizona will have a fully loaded schedule with marquee games in the non-conference and during Big 12 conference games.

Here at Arizona Wildcats On SI we’ve broken down our top three non-conference games on the Wildcats schedule.

Nov 22, 2024; Tucson, Arizona, USA; Arizona Wildcats forward Tobe Awaka (30) and Duke Blue Devils forward Maliq Brown (6) both hold onto the ball during the first half at McKale Center. Mandatory Credit: Aryanna Frank-Imagn Images | Aryanna Frank-Imagn Images

Top Three Non-Conference Games

3. Arizona vs. Florida (Las Vegas)

There are a lot of great games on the Wildcats’ schedule but when you have the chance to open the college basketball season against the defending national champs it doesn’t get much better than that. You’ll have the eyes of the nation on that game as a prime time showdown. Plus, opening under the lights in Las Vegas in a game played in T-Mobile Arena dean’t get much better.

2, Arizona @ UConn

Over the last several years, UConn has been the gold standard for college basketball with head coach Dan Hurley winning back-to-back national titles and putting the Huskies in the Blue Blood conversation. The ultimate measuring stick for this Wildcats team will be the game up in Storrs with the national spotlight.

Dec 14, 2024; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; Arizona Wildcats guard Caleb Love (1) against UCLA Bruins guard Kobe Johnson (0) in the first half at Footprint Center. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

1. Arizona vs. UCLA (Los Angeles)

This is very simple, Arizona-UCLA is one of the most historic rivalry games in all of college sports and is one second behind Duke-North Carolina for the best rivalry game in college hoops.

Now that the two programs are no longer in the game conference, these matchups become pure gold for the two fan bases and features teams that have been playing, recruiting and competing against each other dating back to 1976 when the Wildcats lost to the Bruins in the Elite Eight.

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