Slowly, piece by piece, Arizona’s 2025-26 schedule is seeing the light of day.
Last week, the Big 12 Conference announced the lineup for its slot on ESPN’s Big Monday, with the Wildcats set to play in three of the six games. This week, we’ve gotten official word of the two exhibition games the UA will play along with start times and TV info.
Arizona will play two exhibitions at McKale Center, both of which will stream on ESPN+, giving it 19 total home games. That’s not including the annual Red-Blue Showcase on Oct. 3.
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A recent NCAA rule change now allows Division I schools to face off in full-fledged exhibitions—previously it was only for charity games or in “secret” scrimmages behind closed doors—and Arizona is taking advantage of that by welcoming mid-major power Saint Mary’s on Oct. 18. The Gaels, who have made the NCAA Tournament four straight years and are three-time defending West Coast Conference regular season champions, feature former UA wing Paulius Murauskas.
The second exhibition, on Oct. 27, will be against in-state school Embry-Riddle, an NAIA school based in Prescott.
Arizona has yet to officially announce its nonconference schedule, though all 13 games are known as are the opponents for Big 12 play. The Big 12 is expected to release the full conference schedule, with TV info and start times, later this month.
Tentative 2025-26 Arizona MBB schedule
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Oct. 18 vs. Saint Mary’s (exhibition; 2 p.m. PT, ESPN+)
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Oct. 27 vs. Embry-Riddle (exhibition; 7 p.m. PT, ESPN+)
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Nov. 3 vs. Florida (T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas)
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Nov. 14 vs. UCLA (Intuit Dome, Los Angeles)
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Nov. 29 vs. Norfolk State
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Dec. 13 vs. Alabama (Legacy Arena, Birmingham)
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Dec. 16 vs. Abilene Christian
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Dec. 20 vs. San Diego State (Phoenix)
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Dec. 22 vs. Bethune-Cookman
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Dec. 29 vs. South Dakota State
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Other Big 12 games (dates TBD)
Home: ASU, BYU, Cincinnati, Kansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma State, Texas Tech, West Virginia
Away: ASU, Baylor, Colorado, Houston, TCU, UCF, Utah
