Randy Bennett's First Conference Schedule as ASU Head Coach Revealed

After 25 seasons with Saint Mary's College, the Mesa native is prepared for his first power conference season as the Sun Devils' Big 12 slate is now set.

ASU men's basketball coach Randy Bennett (center) talks with his team during practice at the Weatherup Center in Tempe, Arizona, on June 30, 2026. | © Mark Henle/The Republic / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

We are 45 days away from the start of Randy Bennett's first season as head coach of Arizona State men's basketball. Announced on Thursday, his entire regular-season schedule is now set.

The Big 12 released the men's basketball conference schedule for the 2026-2027 season. Here is how the year will look for the Devils:

2026-2027 ASU MBB SCHEDULE

1/2 BYU

1/5 @ TCU

1/9 UCF

1/12 @ Texas Tech

1/16 @ Arizona

1/19 Kansas State

1/23 Houston

1/27 @ West Virginia

1/30 @ Cincinnati

2/6 TCU

2/9 @ Kansas

2/13 Arizona

2/16 @ Kansas State

2/19 Iowa State

2/23 Utah

2/27 @ Colorado

3/2 Baylor

3/6 @ Oklahoma State

Here are the main takeaways:

On The Road Again...

The main cause of ASU's 7-11 conference in 2025 was their 2-9 record on the road.

Bobby Hurley's final Devil squad ran into some tough stretches away, including at #9 BYU, at #1 Arizona and at #7 Houston in a four-game stretch.

For Randy Bennett's final Saint Mary's team, they lost just two conference road games with a impressive 16-2 record to claim the West Coast Conference regular season title.

With ASU and Bennett now newlywed, the road trips don't seem as daunting as 2025's. Houston and BYU are both home, the Kansas-Kansas State trips are broken up into two and you get the trips to Lubbock and Tucson out of the way early, leaving an easier conference outlook on the backend of the schedule.

While I don't expect Bennett's Devils to take over the conference, they should fare a bit better than ASU's prior first couple seasons in the Big 12.

A Revenge Tour

While the Big 12 is a very respected basketball conference, ASU still had its fair share of bad losses.

Two losses to Colorado and a loss to Baylor plagued a 2025 team that was trying with all their power to find their way onto the bubble, including beating #13 Texas Tech and #14 Kansas in February.

A great way for Bennett to introduce himself to the ASU gig: beat the teams that you should beat.

Nobody will point any blame if the Devils come up short on a back-to-back with Texas Tech and Arizona, but this conference schedule has stretches where ASU should be piling up victories to try and rise above the bottom five of the conference.

This includes a winnable road trip to West Virginia and Cincinnati, two matchups against Kansas State, followed by a final turn of Utah, Colorado, Baylor and Oklahoma State.

Late Season Questions

In 2025, ASU had a handful of February and March opportunities to try to find a last-second big win and sneak into the dance. This included matchups against a visit to #6 Iowa State, hosting #14 Kansas and #13 Texas Tech, all three games coming after Feb. 16.

This season, those late stage opportunities may not show. Instead, the late January/early February stretch looks to pivotal.

ASU will begin the month with a trip to Kansas, followed by hosting Arizona and Iowa State, all coming in a four-game stretch.

If the Devils want to make any late season noise, they will need to pick off one of these dates, as the final stretch of the season does not appear to hold any resume-quality wins.

Randy Bennett and the Sun Devils will hit the court for the first time in 2026 on Oct. 25, heading to New Mexico to face the Lobos in a preseason exhibition. ASU will return home for their true season opener against East Tennessee State on Nov. 2.