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12 Things to Know About UCF Men’s Basketball’s Big 12 Schedule

Knights open Big 12 play at Kansas State, home opener vs. Kansas

By Eric Lopez
/ new
NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament - Midwest Regional Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images

On Tuesday, the UCF Knights learned what the Big 12 schedule would look like as the league announced the Men’s Basketball schedule.

First, here’s a breakdown of the schedule with numbers from last season:

UCF Men’s Basketball 2023-24 Schedule

Date Day H/A Opponent Conference 22-23 Record 22-23 NET Last Season
Date Day H/A Opponent Conference 22-23 Record 22-23 NET Last Season
Nov 6 Mon H FIU C-USA 12-18 216 7th C-USA
Nov 10 Fri A Miami ACC 29-8 21 Won ACC Reg Season, L ACC Semis, L Final Four (UConn)
Nov 16 Thu H Cal State Fullerton Big West 18-13 126 4th Big West, L BWC Championship (UCSB)
Nov 19 Sun N South Dakota St. Summit 18-13 162 2nd Summit League, L Summit Semis (NDSU)
Nov 20 Mon N Charlotte/George Mason AAC/A-10 22-14/20-13 98/139 Char: 5th C-USA, Won CBI Tournament | GM: 5th A-10
Nov 26 Sun H Stetson ASUN 15-14 163 4th ASUN, L ASUN Qtrs (Lipscomb)
Dec 2 Sat H Lipscomb ASUN 17-13 147 5th ASUN, L ASUN Semis (Kennesaw)
Dec 6 Wed H Jacksonville ASUN 10-16 233 11th ASUN, DNQ ASUN Tournament
Dec 10 Sun H Ole Miss SEC 12-21 129 13th SEC, L SEC 2nd Round (Tennessee)
Dec 18 Mon H Maine Am. East 11-17 273 7th AEC, L AEC Qtrs (UMass Lowell)
Dec 21 Thu H Florida A&M SWAC 5-22 359 11th SWAC, DNQ SWAC Tournament
Dec 29 Fri H Bethune-Cookman SWAC 10-20 349 7th SWAC, L SWAC Qtrs (Grambling)
Jan 6 Sat A Kansas State Big 12 26-10 19 T-3rd Big 12, L Big 12 Qtrs (TCU), L Elite 8 (FAU)
Jan 10 Wed H Kansas Big 12 28-8 9 Won Big 12 Reg Season, L Big 12 Final (Texas), L NCAA 2nd Round (Arkansas)
Jan 13 Sat H BYU Big 12 17-15 84 5th WCC, L WCC Semis (St. Mary's)
Jan 17 Wed A Texas Big 12 29-9 7 2nd Big 12, Won Big 12 Tournament, L Elite 8 (Miami)
Jan 20 Sat A Houston Big 12 33-4 1 Won AAC Regular Season, L AAC Final (Memphis), L Sweet 16 (Miami)
Jan 23 Tue H West Virginia Big 12 19-15 24 8th Big 12, L Big 12 Qtrs (Kansas), L NCAA 1st Round (Maryland)
Jan 27 Sat A Cincinnati Big 12 22-13 63 4th AAC, L AAC Semis (Houston), L NIT Qtrs (Utah Valley)
Jan 31 Wed H Baylor Big 12 23-11 17 T-3rd Big 12, L Big 12 Qtrs (Iowa St.), L NCAA 2nd Round (Creighton)
Feb 3 Sat H Oklahoma Big 12 15-17 70 T-Last Big 12, L Big 12 1st Round (Oklahoma St.)
Feb 10 Sat A Texas Tech Big 12 16-16 62 T-Last Big 12, L Big 12 1st Round (WVU)
Feb 13 Tue A BYU Big 12 17-15 84 5th WCC, L WCC Semis (St. Mary's)
Feb 17 Sat H Cincinnati Big 12 22-13 63 4th AAC, L AAC Semis (Houston), L NIT Qtrs (Utah Valley)
Feb 20 Tue A West Virginia Big 12 19-15 24 8th Big 12, L Big 12 Qtrs (Kansas), L NCAA 1st Round (Maryland)
Feb 24 Sat H Texas Tech Big 12 16-16 62 T-Last Big 12, L Big 12 1st Round (WVU)
Feb 28 Wed A Oklahoma State Big 12 20-16 42 7th Big 12, L Big 12 Qtrs (Texas), L NIT Qtrs (North Texas)
Mar 2 Sat H Iowa State Big 12 19-14 25 T-5th Big 12, L Big 12 Semis (Kansas), L NCAA 1st Round (Pitt)
Mar 6 Wed H Houston Big 12 33-4 1 Won AAC Regular Season, L AAC Final (Memphis), L Sweet 16 (Miami)
Mar 9 Sat A TCU Big 12 22-13 27 T-5th Big 12, L Big 12 Semis (Texas), L NCAA 2nd Round (Gonzaga)
NET Rankings from April 3

Here are 12 things you should know about the Knights’ schedule.

1. Men’s Hoops Opens at Kansas State (Jan. 6)

NCAA Basketball: NCAA Tournament East Regional-Florida Atlantic vs Kansas State
Kansas State Wildcats head coach Jerome Tang will host UCF in Big 12 opener
Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

Just like Football, UCF Men’s Basketball will play its first-ever Big 12 Conference game at Kansas State. The Wildcats went 26-10 last year, making it to the Elite 8.

2. UCF’s first home game is against Kansas

NCAA Basketball: Texas Tech at Kansas
Bill Self’s Kansas Jayhawks will be at UCF January 10
Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports

The Knights’ historic first Big 12 home game will be against the Kansas Jayhawks on January 10.

When you think of College Basketball’s biggest blue-blood programs, Kansas is at the top of the list, along with North Carolina, Duke, and Kentucky. It is the biggest program UCF has ever hosted.

The Jayhawks are the defending Big 12 regular season champions and will once again be among the favorites for the national title.

3. UCF hosts Baylor on January 31

NCAA Basketball: NCAA Tournament Second Round-Creighton vs Baylor
Baylor Bears head coach Scott Drew
Michael Ciaglo-USA TODAY Sports

Baylor won the National title in 2021 and will be in the mix for the Big 12 title once again.

4. Hello, old friend.

NCAA Basketball: NCAA Tournament Midwest Regional-Miami (FL) vs Houston
Houston Cougars head coach Kelvin Sampson on the sideline
Jay Biggerstaff-USA TODAY Sports

UCF will play at Houston on January 20th and host the Cougars in the home finale on March 6. UCF will also play former AAC rival Cincinnati twice — at Cincinnati on January 27th and in Orlando February 17.

5. UCF will learn Big 12 life the hard way in January

Johnny Dawkins
Derek Warden

Six of UCF’s eight UCF Big 12 games in January are against 2023 NCAA Tournament teams, including road games at Kansas State (Elite 8), Texas (Elite 8), and Houston (Sweet 16), with home games against two of the last three National Champions — Kansas (2022) and Baylor (2021).

In comparison, UCF has just four of their last ten games against NCAA Tournament teams, from February through March 9.

6. UCF has two back-to-back road trips

UCF will play on January 17 at Texas and and January 20 at Houston, as well as February 10 at Texas Tech and February 13 at BYU. The Knights will likely not return to Orlando in between the back-to-back road games.

7. UCF will play eight Big 12 teams that made NCAA Tournament

Do not forget that the Knights will play a non-conference game at Miami, who made the Final Four, on November 10th.

8. ESPN Plus is your home for UCF Basketball

15 out of UCF’s 18 Big 12 conference games will air on ESPN Plus.

The Knights’ opener at Kansas State on January 6th and a road game at West Virginia on February 20th will each air on either ESPN2 or ESPNU. The Knights’ road game at Texas on January 17th will air on the Longhorn Network.

By comparison, Cincinnati has six games on ESPN linear (ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU) including a Big Monday game at Kansas on ESPN. BYU has five games while Houston has 12 games on ESPN linear, including a Big Monday game and two games on CBS.

9. UCF plays at Oklahoma State in a rematch from last season

UCF plays Oklahoma State for a second consecutive season on Feb. 28 in Stillwater after last year’s overtime win in the Baha Mar Hoops Bahamas Championship semifinal. The Knights came back from a 17-point first-half deficit to force overtime and win 60-56.

10. UCF meets Oklahoma for a third time since 2019

UCF will host Oklahoma on Feb. 3. It will be the third time the two programs play since 2019 with the Sooners edging the Knights by a combined four points in 2019 (in Norman) and 2021 (in Orlando).

11. UCF will finish the regular season at TCU

The Knights will conclude the regular season with a trip to Fort Worth to face TCU on March 9. It is the second meeting between the schools, with the prior meeting coming in Madison Square Garden in the 2017 NIT semifinals, won by TCU.

12. Fan-friendly schedule

All UCF Big 12 games will be on either Tuesday, Wednesday, or Saturday. There are no Sunday games, no noon home games, and no weird 9 p.m. home games.

All of UCF’s Saturday Big 12 home games will start at 4 p.m. That should make it easy for fans to follow the team.

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