KU basketball’s Big 12 schedule features 4 Big Monday dates, opens Jan. 4 vs. West Virginia

By Matt Tait     Sep 18, 2019

Nick Krug
Kansas forward David McCormack (33) soars in to block a shot from West Virginia guard Jermaine Haley (10) during the second half, Saturday, Feb. 16, 2019 at Allen Fieldhouse.

The Kansas men’s basketball team’s quest to begin a new Big 12 title streak officially will get under way on Jan. 4 at Allen Fieldhouse against West Virginia.

The Jayhawks’ NCAA-record streak of 14 straight Big 12 regular season titles came to an end last season, when Kansas State and Texas Tech shared the title, two games ahead of KU, which finished third.

KU’s clash with West Virginia in early January will kick off the ninth consecutive season of the Big 12’s round robin format, which Kansas coach Bill Self told the Journal-World was always a positive part of his team’s typically tough schedules.

“The great thing about the round robin format is that everyone plays a home and home (series) with everyone else,” Self said Wednesday afternoon. “So no matter who we played, or when, it would be a hard schedule.”

The Big 12 Conference on Wednesday released the complete schedule for the 2019-20 season and the Jayhawks, as usual, are featured in some of the conference’s most visible games this season.

For the 14th consecutive year, KU will play in four Big Monday games, — the highest number allowed for a single team — traveling to Oklahoma State on Jan. 27, playing host to Texas (and former strength coach Andrea Hudy) on Feb. 3, welcoming Iowa State to Allen Fieldhouse on Feb. 17 and playing host to Oklahoma State on Feb. 24.

All four Big Monday games will tip off at 8 p.m. on ESPN. KU has a total of seven 8 p.m. tipoffs this season.

One new wrinkle with the Jayhawks’ 2019-20 schedule is the existence of the Big 12 Now/ESPN+ platform, which streams games exclusively online, which one needs an ESPN+ subscription to view

In all, 10 of KU’s 2019-20 games will be shown by Big 12 Now/ESPN+, including four conference games — the opener against West Virginia, Game 2 at Iowa State on Jan. 8, the West Virginia road game on Feb. 12.

The Jayhawks have won 14 of the last 15 Big 12 regular-season titles and 18 of the 23 since the inception of the league in 1996-97. KU’s 61 overall conference season titles are an NCAA record.

Kansas released its non-conference schedule in June. It features contests against perennial power Duke to open the regular season at 6 p.m. on Nov. 5 at Madison Square Garden in New York City in the Champions Classic, and its seventh appearance in the Maui Jim Maui Invitational, Nov. 25-27.

In addition, the Jayhawks will host UNC Greensboro (Nov. 8), Monmouth (Nov. 15), East Tennessee State (Nov. 19), Colorado (Dec. 7) and UW Milwaukee (Dec. 10) in Allen Fieldhouse and Kansas City (Dec. 14) at Sprint Center in Kansas City, Mo. KU will also host Tennessee in the Big 12/SEC Challenge on Jan. 25.

KU will officially tip off the 2019-20 season with the 35th annual Late Night in the Phog on Friday, Oct. 4, in Allen Fieldhouse with festivities slated to start at 6:30 p.m. That event also will be televised by ESPN+.

KU’s 2019-20 Men’s Basketball Schedule:

Oct. 24 – vs. Fort Hays State (exh), 7 p.m., Big 12 Now / ESPN+

Oct. 31 – vs. Pittsburg State (exh), 7 p.m., Big 12 Now / ESPN+

Nov. 5 – vs. Duke (Champions Classic, NYC), 6 p.m., ESPN

Nov. 8 – vs. UNC Greensboro, 8 p.m., ESPNU

Nov. 15 – vs. Monmouth, 7 p.m., Big 12 Now / ESPN+

Nov. 19 – vs. East Tennessee State, 7 p.m., Big 12 Now / ESPN+

Nov. 25 – vs. Chaminade (Maui Invitational), 8 p.m., ESPNU

Nov. 26 – vs. BYU/UCLA (Maui Invitational), TBA, ESPN Networks

Nov. 27 – vs. TBA (Maui Invitational), TBA, ESPN Networks

Dec. 7 – vs. Colorado, 6 p.m., ESPN2

Dec. 10 – vs. UW Milwaukee, 7 p.m., Big 12 Now / ESPN+

Dec. 14 – vs. Kansas City (Sprint Center), 4 p.m., Big 12 Now / ESPN+

Dec. 21 – at Villanova, 11 a.m., FOX

Dec. 29 – at Stanford, 2 p.m., ABC

Jan. 4 – vs. West Virginia, TBA, Big 12 Now / ESPN+

Jan. 8 – at Iowa State, 7 p.m., Big 12 Now / ESPN+

Jan. 11 – vs. Baylor, 12 p.m., CBS

Jan. 14 – at Oklahoma, 8 p.m., ESPN Networks

Jan. 18 – at Texas, 1 p.m., ESPN Networks

Jan. 21 – vs. Kansas State, 6 p.m., ESPN Networks

Jan. 25 – vs. Tennessee, 3 p.m., ESPN Networks

Jan. 27 – at Oklahoma State, 8 p.m., ESPN

Feb. 1 – vs. Texas Tech, TBA, ESPN Networks

Feb. 3 – vs. Texas, 8 p.m., ESPN

Feb. 8 – at TCU, 11 a.m., ESPN Networks

Feb. 12 – at West Virginia, 6 p.m., Big 12 Now / ESPN+

Feb. 15 – vs. Oklahoma, 11 a.m., ESPN Networks

Feb. 17 – vs. Iowa State, 8 p.m., ESPN

Feb. 22 – at Baylor, 11 a.m., ESPN Networks

Feb. 24 – vs. Oklahoma State, 8 p.m., ESPN

Feb. 29 – at Kansas State, 12:30 p.m., CBS

March 4 – vs. TCU, 7 p.m., Big 12 Now / ESPN+

March 7 – at Texas Tech, 1 p.m., ESPN Networks

March 11-14 – Big 12 Tournament, Kansas City, Mo.

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Written By Matt Tait

A native of Colorado, Matt moved to Lawrence in 1988 and has been in town ever since. He graduated from Lawrence High in 1996 and the University of Kansas in 2000 with a degree in Journalism. After covering KU sports for the University Daily Kansan and Rivals.com, Matt joined the World Company (and later Ogden Publications) in 2001 and has held several positions with the paper and KUsports.com in the past 20+ years. He became the Journal-World Sports Editor in 2018. Throughout his career, Matt has won several local and national awards from both the Associated Press Sports Editors and the Kansas Press Association. In 2021, he was named the Kansas Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sports Media Association. Matt lives in Lawrence with his wife, Allison, and two daughters, Kate and Molly. When he's not covering KU sports, he likes to spend his time playing basketball and golf, listening to and writing music and traveling the world with friends and family.