ORLANDO – Highlighted by hosting two of the four most recent national champions and nine total home games, the UCF men’s basketball team and the Big 12 Conference have revealed the league matrix for the 2025-26 season.
After playing 20 Big 12 games last season, the conference will move to an 18-game schedule. This means the Knights will host six teams exclusively at home, play three teams both in Orlando and on the road and the remaining six teams exclusively away from The City Beautiful.
UCF will host Arizona, Arizona State, Baylor, Kansas, TCU and Texas Tech as “home only” opponents. The Black and Gold will battle Cincinnati, Oklahoma State and West Virginia twice, hosting and visiting the trio of programs. BYU, Colorado, Houston, Iowa State, Kansas State and Utah make up the Knights’ half dozen exclusive road games.
The nine teams the Knights will host have punched 49 tickets to the NCAA Tournament over the last decade. Kansas leads the way with nine in the last 10 seasons with Baylor boasting eight and Arizona and Texas Tech reaching March Madness seven times.
Eight of UCF’s nine opponents at home for the upcoming season reached a postseason tournament in 2024-25, including Texas Tech and Arizona who made it past the first weekend of March Madness, playing in the Elite Eight and Sweet 16, respectively. Despite not making it past the NCAA Tournament’s second round last season, recent national champions Baylor (2021) and Kansas (2022) return to Orlando during the 2025-26 campaign. The Jayhawks will have visited the Knights in all three seasons as part of the Big 12 while it will be the Bears’ second visit to UCF this season.
After facing BYU, Houston, Kansas State and Utah only at home during the 2024-25 regular season, the Knights will face the quartet on the road in 2025-26. It will be the Knights’ first trip to Salt Lake City to play the Utes; the Knights were last in the state of Utah in 2023 to visit BYU for the first time.
The Big 12 schedule matrix only announces the teams and locations UCF is slated to play in league action for the 2025-26 season. Opponents were selected to best balance the schedule in terms of travel and competitiveness. A full Big 12 schedule will be released at a later date. The Big 12’s champion will again be crowned in T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, taking place this year from March 10-14.