Arizona will open its 2018-19 season against in Houston Baptist on Nov. 7 at McKale Center, according to UA director of basketball operations Ryan Reynolds.
The Wildcats were waiting on an opponent to be assigned by the Maui Invitational as a play-in game โ in order to play the maximum of four games in the Maui multi-team event โ but Reynolds said UA and a number of other high-major teams received a waiver to schedule their own games because there weren't enough interested/available opponents for them.
(After all, who wants to play in the Maui Invitational when you don't actually get to go to Maui โ and have to play high-major teams on their home courts instead?)
The waiver process was initiated about a month ago by Wisconsin, which was having trouble finding an add-on game in the Battle 4 Atlantis, Reynolds said. He said he found out last week that the waiver had been granted, and was able to get Houston Baptist to agree to a game last Friday, with the final contract coming back signed Monday night.
The problem may be avoided in future years, Reynolds said, if the NCAA passes a rule as expected that would allow anybody in a three-team multi-team event to schedule a fourth game on their own. Effectively, this would effectively raise the NCAA schedule maximum since most teams play in an "MTE" of some sort every season.
Houston Baptist won't be a tough opponent โ the Huskies of the Southland Conference went 6-25 last season โ but Reynolds said the team was one of the few remaining with a game still available.
The addition of Houston Baptist completes Arizona's 2018-19 schedule at a fairly late date.
"Iโm happy this is over," Reynolds said. "I would say usually we try to work ahead as much as can."
Note that the opener is on a Wednesday, reflecting rules that now allow seasons to begin as early as the Tuesday before the second Friday in November. The old rule had seasons open no earlier than the second Friday.
Because of the change, teams can now begin full practices as early as 42 days before that Tuesday, which is Sept. 25 this season. Teams can schedule up to 30 practices (including exhibition games) during that six-week window.
Here's the full schedule, with Pac-12 exact dates and most times to be announced:
(home games in bold, exact Pac-12 dates TBA, most times TBA):
Oct. 14 Red-Blue Game (scrimmage)
Oct. 30 Western New Mexico (exhibition)
Nov. 4 Chaminade (exhibition)
Nov. 7 Houston Baptist
Nov. 11 Cal Poly
Nov. 14 UTEP
Nov. 19 Iowa State (at Lahaina, Maui) 7 p.m., ESPNU
Nov. 20 Gonzaga or Illinois (at Lahaina, Maui) at 8:30 p.m. (ESPN) or 3 p.m. (ESPN2).
Nov. 21 Maui Invitational final game vs. Duke, San Diego State, Xavier or Auburn) TBD
Nov. 28 Texas Southern
Dec 2 at UConn (Hartford)
Dec. 6 Utah Valley
Dec. 9 at Alabama
Dec. 15 Baylor
Dec. 19 Montana
Dec. 22 UC Davis
Jan. 2-6: Colorado, Utah
Jan. 9-13: at Stanford, at Cal
Jan. 16-20: Oregon, OSU
Jan. 23-27: at UCLA, at USC
Jan. 30-Feb. 3: at ASU
Feb. 6-10: WSU, Washington
Feb. 13-17: at Colorado, Utah
Feb. 20-24: Stanford, Cal
Feb. 27-March 3: at Oregon, at OSU
March 6-9: ASU
