Adia Barnes and her Arizona women’s basketball team will get one more showdown at McKale Center with longtime national power Stanford this season, before the Wildcats and Cardinal go their separate ways to new conferences beginning in 2024.
The Pac-12 conference announced Monday its weekly pairings for the 2023-24 season, sharing which programs will be at which opponents on which weeks during the new college basketball season that starts in just about a month.
Arizona and Stanford, barely 2½ years removed from facing each other in San Antonio in a thrilling, one-possession national championship game that ended with the Cardinal winning the NCAA title, will see each other twice — the week of Jan. 26-28 in Tucson, and Feb. 23-25 in Northern California.
The Wildcats’ 2023-24 schedule opens Nov. 6 at New Mexico State and includes 12 nonconference games against the likes of Memphis, UNLV, Texas and Gonzaga. Arizona will also play 18 conference games. The Wildcats will see ASU, Stanford, Cal, UCLA, USC, Washington and Washington State twice apiece, and Colorado, Utah, Oregon and Oregon State once each this upcoming season.
Arizona guard Helena Pueyo (13) stops a shot from Arizona State guard Tyi Skinner (3) in the first quarter of their Pac-12 matchup in McKale Center on Dec. 29, 2022.
While precise dates, times and television/streaming details for the entire Pac-12 schedule are still to be announced, one conference game on Arizona’s schedule is locked into at least a date: the Wildcats open their final season of Pac-12 competition at ASU on Dec. 17.
That game comes right in the middle of a busy eight-day stretch that sees Arizona host Texas on Dec. 13, play in Tempe on Dec. 17, and then play in Phoenix on Dec. 20 against Gonzaga in Footprint Center in Phoenix as part of the Jerry Colangelo’s Hall of Fame Series. The UA men, as well as both ASU teams will also be in action that day on the home court of the NBA’s Phoenix Suns.
Arizona won 20 games last season for the fifth consecutive year — the first such stretch in program history — while reaching the NCAA tournament (and winning at least one tourney game each time) for the third straight year in 2022-23
The UA finished 22-10 in 2022-23, including an NCAA tournament win and additional victories over five more ranked opponents during the season.
In all this season, Arizona will play 30 regular-season games. The breakdown:
- 12 nonconference games
- 18 Pac-12 matchups
- 16 at McKale Center (9 during Pac-12 play)
- 10 total road games (9 during Pac-12 play)
— 4 neutral-site games (3 in Nassau, Bahamas)
The full schedule to date:
Oct. 25: WEST TEXAS A&M (exhibition)
Nov. 1: POINT LOMA (exhibition)
Nov. 6: at New Mexico State
Nov. 10: NORTHERN ARIZONA
Nov. 12: LOYOLA MARYMOUNT
Nov. 14: SAN DIEGO
Nov. 18: Memphis (at Nassau, Bahamas)
Nov. 19: TBD (at Nassau, Bahamas)
Nov. 20: TBD (at Nassau, Bahamas)
Dec. 2: at UNLV
Dec. 7: UC SAN DIEGO
Dec. 13: TEXAS
Dec. 17: at ASU
Dec. 20: Gonzaga (at Phoenix)
Dec. 31: SEATTLE
Jan. 5-7: COLORADO/UTAH
Jan. 12-14: at Oregon/Oregon State
Jan. 19-21: at Washington/Washington State
Jan. 26-28: CAL/STANFORD
Feb. 2-4: ASU
Feb. 9-11: at UCLA/USC
Feb. 16-18: WASHINGTON/WASHINGTON STATE
Feb. 23-25: at Cal/Stanford
Feb. 29-March 2: UCLA/USC
Home games (McKale Center) in bold
McKale Center was built at the University of Arizona in the early 1970s. There have been updates through the years.
