Tommy Lloyd hasn’t been any sort of shy when it comes to scheduling nonconference games for Arizona men’s basketball.
It appears that trend will continue next season, with dates and locations for two matchups reported on Thursday and Friday by Jon Rothstein of CBS.
Arizona will face storied rival UCLA on Nov. 14 at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, home of the Los Angeles Clippers. The date suggests it could be the first time during the 2025-26 season either team faces a power conference opponent.
The Wildcats will then play Alabama in Birmingham on Dec. 13. The game’s venue had not been reported yet, but candidates include Legacy Arena (NBA G League’s Birmingham Squadron) and Bartow Arena (UAB basketball).
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The UCLA matchup is part of an agreement between the two schools to keep a legacy Pac-12 rivalry alive after conference realignment. It comes after last year’s three-point loss at then-Footprint Center in Phoenix.
The Wildcats won the first iteration of the Alabama series with a seven-point victory during the 2023-24 season, also at then-Footprint Center.
The “home-and-home but neutral” style of scheduling has popped up more frequently in college basketball of late.
It increases the odds that the game is Quad 1 for both teams while still giving one school more of a home-court feel. Opponents on a neutral court would represent a Quad 1 win if they’re in the Top 50 of the NET, compared to Top 30 if the game is played at home.
Who else will Arizona play in its nonconference schedule in 2025-26?
The Wildcats’ matchup against Alabama will come one week after a matchup on Dec. 6 against the Crimson Tide’s in-state rival, Auburn, which was the top overall seed in this year’s NCAA Tournament.
Arizona announced the home-and-home series with Auburn in February, with December’s matchup on campus in Tucson preceding the return game at Auburn on a TBD date.
Rothstein reported in February there was a home-and-home series in the works with UConn, which has won two of the last three national championships, but no finalized agreement has yet surfaced.
Furthermore, the Wildcats are not expected to play in a multi-team event in 2025-26. It comes after Arizona was 1-2 in the Battle 4 Atlantis last year, with the only win coming against Davidson.
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