The UConn men’s basketball team has assembled something of a monstrous non-conference schedule. It begins fairly tame with the mundane matchups you’d typically expect from any season’s start. UConn will play the likes of New Haven, UMass Lowell and Columbia as it looks to get its feet underneath itself — but those are not elite programs.
While the term “elite” can have its subjectivity, any run-of-the-mill college basketball fan knows the Huskies have some heavy hitters in their future. All six considered in this preview rank inside the top 40 in KenPom’s 2026 ratings, while five claimed appearances on the Preseason Top 25 AP Poll. In less than one calendar month’s time, the Huskies will play No. 3 Florida, No. 8 BYU, No. 13 Arizona, No. 17 Illinois, No. 19 Kansas and Texas, which is unranked in the poll but No. 39 in KenPom.
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No. 8 BYU Cougars (Nov. 15 at TD Garden)
Fast Facts
Head coach: Kevin Young (Second season)
2024-25 record: 26-10 (14-6 Big 12)
Final 2024-25 KenPom ranking: No. 26
2025-26 KenPom ranking: No. 18
BYU shocked a lot of college basketball fans when the Cougars played their way into the Sweet 16 in last year’s NCAA tournament under first-year head coach Kevin Young. It was not nearly as shocking as the splash the program made in the offseason, luring No. 1 high school prospect AJ Dybantsa away from more “blue-blood” schools like UNC or Kansas, which were among the young star’s final seven.
This is, without a doubt, the most highly anticipated season in BYU men’s basketball history. The Cougars are pushing all their chips in this year, and naturally so, given Dybantsa will likely spend just one season with the program before taking off for the NBA. While Houston just narrowly nudged them out for the top spot in the conference’s preseason coaches’ poll, the Cougars were picked to finish second. Alongside Dybantsa, returning forward Richie Saunders was selected to the Preseason All-Big 12 Team. Notably, BYU brought in sophomore guard Robert Wright III, a member of the Big 12 All-Freshman Team, and former Utah center Keba Keita out of the transfer portal.
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This will be the second meeting all-time between the two schools — the first being a UConn win in 2003.
No. 13 Arizona Wildcats (Nov. 19 at Gampel Pavilion)
Fast Facts
Head coach: Tommy Lloyd (Fifth season)
2024-25 record: 24-13 (14-6 Big 12)
Final 2024-25 KenPom ranking: No. 13
2025-26 KenPom ranking: No. 15
Arizona’s fate last season was decided twice by two eventual No. 1 seeds in the NCAA tournament. After a run to the Big 12 championship game, Houston sent the Wildcats packing. Then in the Sweet 16, it was Cooper Flagg and the Blue Devils who did the same.
Head coach Tommy Lloyd faced a major problem in the offseason, losing four of his top five scorers. No. 1 option Caleb Love (17.2 points per game) went undrafted in June but found a home in Portland on a two-way contract. KJ Lewis (10.8 ppg) and Henri Veesaar (9.4) hit the transfer portal, the former of which the Huskies will see as a Georgetown Hoya when Big East play starts. Trey Townsend (8.2 ppg) exhausted five years of eligibility and now plays overseas. The lone returner of the group, Jaden Bradley (12.1 ppg), will hold down the backcourt alongside Anthony Dell’Orso, who started 28 games for the Wildcats last year. Senior Tobe Awaka will handle the big man role in his second year with the program.
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Rather than turn to the portal, Lloyd used youth as his solution. Arizona landed two huge recruits in last year’s cycle, No. 8 Koa Peat and No. 11 Brayden Burries. Peat, a forward, is projected to start, while Burries, a guard, has a better chance to begin the season off the bench. Forward Dwayne Aristode was the No. 29 recruit nationally. And yet, no commitment was as notable as that of Bryce James, the youngest son of LeBron James. It is unknown how much Bryce, the No. 53 shooting guard in last year’s cycle, will play. If at all. Might we see The King in Storrs this year? Probably not, but it’s still fun to dream.
No. 17 Illinois Fighting Illini (Nov. 28 at Madison Square Garden)
Fast Facts
Head coach: Brad Underwood (Ninth season)
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2024-25 record: 22-13 (12-8 Big Ten)
Final 2024-25 KenPom ranking: No. 17
2025-26 KenPom ranking: No. 6
Ken Pomeroy’s projections for the Fighting Illini are especially bullish considering Illinois’ spot on his preseason ratings (No. 6) is higher than two teams the Big Ten coaches voted Illinois would finish behind (Michigan, UCLA). Purdue is the projected top team in that conference and the consensus No. 1 team in the nation.
The 2025-26 Illinois roster is deep, despite not having any players on the preseason Big Ten team, with a particular international flair under head coach Brad Underwood. Andrej Stojakovic, son of NBA legend Peja Stojakovic, transferred to Illinois as his third school in as many years. Croatian brothers Tomislav and Zvonimir Ivisic are each 7-plus feet tall capable forwards, reuniting in Champagne-Urbana for their first season after Zvonimir spent the first two with two other schools. Mihailo Petrovic projects to be the team’s starting point guard in his first year of collegiate basketball.
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After an unceremonious end to their season last year, losing to Kentucky in the round of 32, the Fighting Illini are looking to make a big splash in the Big Ten. Illinois can build its NCAA tournament resume by putting itself on the map with an upset against UConn.
Remember, Illinois was a victim of the Huskies’ dominance in their second-straight national championship run, blown out by 25 points in the Elite Eight. That was the last time these two teams played. Two players, AJ Redd and Ty Rodgers, remain from that year’s Fighting Illini roster. Look for them to have an extra-large chip on their shoulder.
No. 19 Kansas Jayhawks (Dec. 2 at Allen Fieldhouse)
Fast Facts
Head coach: Bill Self (23rd season)
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2024-25 record: 21-13 (11-9 Big 12)
Final 2024-25 KenPom ranking: No. 24
2025-26 KenPom ranking: No. 21
All of Kansas’ hype this season centers around Darryn Peterson, a potential No. 1 pick in next year’s NBA Draft. Peterson proved he was worthy of 247sports.com and On3.com’s No. 1 overall prospect designation in Kansas’ first exhibition of the year, pouring in 26 points and five steals in 25 minutes against Louisville, who came in at No. 11 in the AP Top 25 Preseason Poll. Loyola-Chicago transfer Jaden Dawson and redshirt sophomore Elmarko Jackson should round out the starting backcourt for Bill Self.
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Peterson joins an overhauled roster that saw Kansas’ top-six scoring options all depart the team following its opening round loss in last year’s NCAA Tournament. Probable starting forward Tre White joins the team from Illinois, while sixth-man candidate Melvin Council transfers in from St. Bonaventure. Self returns center Flory Bidunga, the highest-scoring returning player from 2024-25 (6.0 ppg), who is poised to take over as starting center.
This game is UConn’s only true road test before starting conference play. The Huskies are 0-4 all-time against Kansas with two losses at Allen Fieldhouse.
No. 3 Florida Gators (Dec. 7 at Madison Square Garden)
Fast Facts
Head coach: Todd Golden (Fourth season)
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2025-26 record: 36-4 (14-4 SEC)
Final 2024-25 KenPom ranking: No. 3
2024-25 KenPom ranking: No. 2
Outside of the national championship game against No. 1 Houston, UConn gave Florida the biggest run for its money throughout last year’s tournament. A couple of bad shots and a couple of unfortunate misses did not go the Huskies’ way, but if they had, who knows what team would have been cutting those nets down?
Florida is poised for a rare repeat. All-SEC forward Alex Condon returned to the team after initially declaring for the NBA Draft. Pair him with shot-blocking maestro Rueben Chinyelu, and you have one of the best frontcourts in the country. Now add former five-star Boogie Fland to the mix. The rising sophomore was a critical cog in Arkansas’ Sweet 16 run last year (13.8 ppg) and slots into the starting backcourt primed for a sophomore surge in Golden’s system. Also out of the portal comes two-time unanimous First Team All-Ivy League combo-guard Xaivien Lee, who joins Florida after three seasons with Princeton.
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While the NCAA tournament yields consistent chaos year over year, there are always the favorites to win. This year, four consensus teams fit that bill.UConn and Florida are two of them. This is firepower against firepower, with two of the brightest minds on the sidelines in Hurley and Golden, all going down at Storrs South in the Jimmy V Classic.
Texas Longhorns (Dec. 12 at PeoplesBank Arena)
Fast Facts
Head coach: Sean Miller (First Season)
2024-25 record: 19-16 (6-12 SEC)
Final 2024-25 KenPom ranking: No. 47
2025-26 KenPom ranking: No. 39
Not only did the Longhorns fire head coach Rodney Terry after the team’s loss to Xavier in its First Four game last year, but they then went out and hired the coach who had beaten them. Sean Miller, a two-time coach at Xavier and a 12-year head coach at Arizona, joins the Longhorns with the intention of building on the momentum achieved by Texas’ Elite Eight run in the 2022-23 season.
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Miller had a decent core to inherit on his way in, with two 10-point-per-game scorers returning to the team in graduate guard Tramon Mark and senior guard Jordan Pope. Then he hit the portal, hard, starting by bringing over two of his own Xavier players in Lassina Traore and Dailyn Swain. Lassina transferred to Xavier after two years at Long Beach State, but never actually appeared in a game for the Musketeers after a knee injury sidelined him for the year. Clearly, Miller believes enough in the 6-foot-10 forward to recruit him for a second time, halfway across the country, no less. Swain, a rising junior combo-guard, started all but one game for Miller last year and averaged 11 ppg.
Other portal acquisitions include forward Camden Heide (Purdue), C Matas Vokietaitis (FAU), and guard Simeon Wilcher, who UConn fans might remember from his two seasons at St. John’s. Wilcher and Vokietatis are expected to start, while Heide will search for a larger role after averaging about 15 minutes per game with the Boilermakers.
There are plenty of new faces in new places in this Texas locker room. It may take a month or two for the team to find its true identity, which could imply a sluggish start. UConn will have to wait until mid-December to play the Longhorns in what is the return game of a home-and-home that saw the Huskies take care of business down in Austin last year. It is UConn’s last game of its non-conference schedule and one it’ll surely want to win if it wants momentum heading into the Big East slate. UConn is 8-3 against Texas all-time.
