MANHATTAN, Kan. (KStateSports.com) – Kansas State will play six of its 10 Big 12 home games on weekends, as the league office announced the dates for its conference-only schedule on Thursday (Sept. 26).
The new 20-game league schedule will run from the end of December to the second week of March with each team playing 10 games at home and on the road as the conference expands to 16 teams in 2024-25 with the additions of Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah.
Game times and television information will be released at a later date.
Among the six weekend conference home games will be visits from projected top 10 teams Houston (Saturday, Jan. 11), Kansas (Saturday, Feb. 8) and Iowa State (Saturday, March 8). The Wildcats will also host West Virginia on Saturday, Jan. 25 as well as first-ever Sunday conference games with league newcomers Arizona State (Sunday, Feb. 23) and Colorado (Sunday, March 2).
The expanded conference schedule will tip on Monday, Dec. 30 with a home game against Cincinnati. It will be the first meeting in Manhattan as conference foes and the first visit by the Bearcats since 1967.
Other home games include Texas Tech on Tuesday, Jan. 14, Oklahoma State on Wednesday, Jan. 29 and perennial top 10 program Arizona on Tuesday, Feb. 11.
The road portion of the Big 12 slate starts with back-to-back trips to TCU (Saturday, Jan. 4) and Oklahoma State (Tuesday, Jan. 7). The Wildcats also have consecutive road trips three other times, including Kansas (Saturday, Jan. 18) and Baylor (Wednesday, Jan. 22), Iowa State (Saturday, Feb. 1) and Arizona State (Tuesday, Feb. 4) and BYU (Saturday, Feb. 15) and Utah (Monday, Feb. 17).
The expanded Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship will run Tuesday-Saturday, March 11-15 at the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City and will coincide with the women’s championship, which runs Thursday-Monday, March 6-10, also at T-Mobile.
Season tickets for the 2024-25 season are currently available, with prices starting at less than $18 per game. Fans can purchase now to see the Wildcats all year by visiting www.kstatesports.com/tickets or calling (800) 221.CATS.
Thirteen of the 16 Big 12 teams won at least 17 games in 2023-24 with 11 winning at least 20 games, including 32 wins by league champion Houston. Thirteen made the postseason a season ago, including NCAA Tournament appearances by Arizona, Baylor, BYU, Colorado, Houston, Iowa State, Kansas, TCU and Texas Tech.
K-State finished the 2023-24 season with a 19-15 record, including a tie for ninth in the Big 12 with an 8-10 mark, and advanced to the NIT. Among the Wildcats’ 19 victories were 4 over Top 25 teams, including 3 in the Top 10. The team has won 45 games in head coach Jerome Tang‘s tenure, including consecutive postseason appearances.
SCHEDULE NOTES
- The Big 12 will play a 20-game league schedule in 2024-25, playing 10 at home and 10 on the road… It is the largest conference schedule in school history, as it has evolved from 10 games in the Big Six (1928-47) to 12 games in the Big Seven (1947-58) to 14 games in the Big Eight (1958-96) to 16 (1997-2011), 18 (2012-24) and now 20 in the Big 12 era.
- K-State will play a conference game in the month of December for the fifth time and the first since 2022-23… It is the earliest conference matchup since 2020.
- Cincinnati will visit Manhattan for the third time and the first time since 1967.
- K-State will play Arizona for the first time since 2014, Arizona State for the first time since 2017, Colorado for the first time since 2020 and Utah for the first time since 1983.
- K-State will host Arizona for the first time since 1981 with the Purple Wildcats winning all 5 previous meetings at home in the series… The schools have met just 14 times in their respective histories, most recently in the 2014 Maui Invitational, with K-State holding an 8-6 advantage.
- K-State will host Arizona State for the first time since 1982, while the Wildcats will visit Tempe for the first time since 1980… The schools have met 9 times previously with the Sun Devils holding a 5-4 edge.
- K-State and Colorado will meet for the 145th time in 2024-25 and the first time since 2020. All but 2 meetings have come as conference foes, starting with the Big Seven in 1948 followed by the Big Eight (1959-96) and Big 12 (1997-2011, 2024-25).
- K-State and Utah will meet for just the fourth time in 2024-25 and the first time since 1983… The Wildcats will travel to Salt Lake City for the second time and the first time since a 65-59 win in 1972.
- K-State and Kansas have played home-and-home every year since 1912 and have played at least once every year since 1907… It is the sixth-most played rivalry (301) in Division I men’s basketball.
- K-State and Iowa State have met home-and-away every year since 1918 with the series dating to 1909… The Wildcats will host the Cyclones on Senior Day for the second straight year.
- The series with Oklahoma State dates to 1922 while the schools have played home-and-home as Big Eight members (1959-96) and since 2010 when the Big 12 switched to a round-robin schedule.
- Houston will visit Manhattan for the third time and the first time since 1971.
- K-State will visit UCF for the first time and play for the third time overall.
2024-25 Men’s Basketball Schedule
Day | Date | Opponent | Time | TV |
Tuesday | Oct. 29 | Fort Hays State (Exh.) | TBA | TBA |
Tuesday | Nov. 5 | New Orleans | TBA | TBA |
Saturday | Nov. 9 | Cleveland State | TBA | TBA |
Thursday | Nov. 14 | LSU | TBA | TBA |
Tuesday | Nov. 19 | Mississippi Valley State | TBA | TBA |
Friday | Nov. 22 | vs. George Washington | TBA | TBA |
Sat./Sun. | Nov. 23/24 | vs. Liberty/Louisiana | TBA | TBA |
Monday | Nov. 25 | vs. TBD | TBA | TBA |
Sunday | Dec. 1 | UAPB | TBA | TBA |
Saturday | Dec. 7 | @St. John’s | TBA | TBA |
Tuesday | Dec. 17 | Drake (Kansas City) | TBA | TBA |
Saturday | Dec. 21 | @Wichita State | TBA | TBA |
Monday | Dec. 30 | Cincinnati* | TBA | TBA |
Saturday | Jan. 4 | @TCU* | TBA | TBA |
Tuesday | Jan. 7 | @Oklahoma State* | TBA | TBA |
Saturday | Jan. 11 | Houston* | TBA | TBA |
Tuesday | Jan. 14 | Texas Tech* | TBA | TBA |
Saturday | Jan. 18 | @Kansas* | TBA | TBA |
Wednesday | Jan. 22 | @Baylor* | TBA | TBA |
Saturday | Jan. 25 | West Virginia* | TBA | TBA |
Wednesday | Jan. 29 | Oklahoma State* | TBA | TBA |
Saturday | Feb. 1 | @Iowa State* | TBA | TBA |
Tuesday | Feb. 4 | @Arizona State* | TBA | TBA |
Saturday | Feb. 8 | Kansas* | TBA | TBA |
Tuesday | Feb. 11 | Arizona* | TBA | TBA |
Saturday | Feb. 15 | @BYU* | TBA | TBA |
Monday | Feb. 17 | @Utah* | TBA | TBA |
Sunday | Feb. 23 | Arizona State* | TBA | TBA |
Wednesday | Feb. 26 | @UCF* | TBA | TBA |
Sunday | March 2 | Colorado* | TBA | TBA |
Wednesday | March 5 | @Cincinnati* | TBA | TBA |
Saturday | March 8 | Iowa State* | TBA | TBA |