Kansas head coach Bill Self has a laugh with Kansas forward K.J. Adams Jr. (24) during the second half on Tuesday, March 5, 2024 at Allen Fieldhouse. Photo by Nick Krug

This year’s Kansas men’s basketball conference schedule is more difficult to comprehend in full than ever before.

The Jayhawks will play 20 games in league play, beginning even before the start of the new year, as the Big 12 has expanded to contain 16 teams. As it did last season, KU also plays some teams only at home, some only on the road and some both home and away.

As such, with so many different possible games to concentrate on, here are four that deserve particular attention as the season draws on.

photo by: AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall

Iowa State guard Tamin Lipsey (3) reacts after a basket against Washington State in the second half of a second-round college basketball game in the NCAA Tournament, Saturday, March 23, 2024, in Omaha, Neb.

KU vs. Iowa State (Feb. 3)

These two teams played a thriller in Hilton Coliseum last season — they combined for 98 second-half points, and KU scored seven straight to draw within two late, only to give up a dagger 3 to Keshon Gilbert — and, thanks to the new unbalanced schedule, didn’t get a return matchup at Allen Fieldhouse.

In by far its best season under T.J. Otzelberger, ISU went on to win last year’s Big 12 tournament for just the seventh time ever and reached the Sweet 16 before losing to Illinois. The Jayhawks do have to go back to Hilton this year, but the Cyclones will make the trip to Lawrence too.

The versatile first-team all-conference guard Tamin Lipsey, a strong defender and rebounder, is back, as are second-teamer Gilbert, all-freshman selection Milan Momcilovic, and double-digit scorer Curtis Jones; they helped form one of the nation’s most cohesive starting lineups last season. One of the offseason’s earliest transfers, former Charlotte center Dishon Jackson, is expected to shore things up in the post.

ISU will be looking for its first victory in Lawrence since 2017 and just its third since Bill Self took over as KU’s coach. The Cyclones haven’t won in regulation in Lawrence since 2001.

photo by: AP Photo/Charlie Riedel

BYU forward Fousseyni Traore shoots during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game against Texas Tech Thursday, March 14, 2024, in Kansas City, Mo.

KU at BYU (Feb. 18)

The Marriott Center is a unique environment for college basketball. It has the largest capacity of any Big 12 venue, it’s one of the highest-elevation arenas in the sport and it produces a nationally renowned home-court advantage. The Cougars went 16-2 there last year, including victories over San Diego State, Iowa State and Baylor.

They were pretty good on the road too — they won at Allen Fieldhouse, of course, with a 3-point bombardment last season — and ended up making the tournament for just the second time since 2015, only to lose to Duquesne in the first round.

The returning Jayhawks will undoubtedly look for a measure of revenge via this matchup, especially because they don’t get BYU back at Allen Fieldhouse this season. However, they’ll be facing a very different squad than the one that shocked them in the Phog. BYU coach Mark Pope left for Kentucky after a particularly chaotic coaching carousel, and Jaxson Robinson, who hit four 3s in that game at KU, went with him. Unconventional big men Aly Khalifa and Noah Waterman are also gone, along with starting guard Spencer Johnson.

However, former Phoenix Suns assistant Kevin Young retained key players like Dallin Hall, Trevin Knell, Richie Saunders and Fousseyni Traore and added arguably the best freshman class in school history, including BYU’s first-ever five-star recruit, the young Russian star Egor Demin. KU will certainly face a challenge when it plays in Provo, Utah, for the first time in 64 years, and it’ll be a different type of challenge from last year’s matchup against the Cougars.

Of note, there’s an interesting bit of scheduling going into this matchup. KU is slated to face the Utes, an hour away, three days earlier, meaning the Jayhawks could opt to stay in the Salt Lake City area between games if they so choose.

photo by: AP Photo/Charlie Riedel

Houston guard L.J. Cryer (4) drives during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game against Iowa State in the championship of the Big 12 Conference tournament, Saturday, March 16, 2024, in Kansas City, Mo.

KU at Houston (March 3)

At the time the 2023-24 Big 12 schedule came out, last year’s edition of this matchup, which closed out the conference slate, seemed like it could play a pivotal role in determining the league champion. Instead, KU sustained a rather unprecedented number of losses in the two months prior, and the actual game at the Fertitta Center was a disaster for the Jayhawks in which Hunter Dickinson hurt his shoulder, Kevin McCullar made an abortive return from injury that ended up being the final appearance of his career and KU went down 25 points in the first half.

It has a similar marquee positioning on this year’s calendar — it’s KU’s final road game, five days before senior night — and the battle between the Jayhawks and Cougars in Houston this time around has a good chance of being much more competitive than either game the two teams played last year. (KU shot the lights out in a victory at Allen Fieldhouse in February before the blowout loss in March.) But while the Jayhawks have a new-look team in many ways as compared to last season, Houston’s roster is almost identical to the one that won the Big 12 regular-season title in its first year in the conference.

Guards L.J. Cryer and Emanuel Sharp will be as threatening as ever, forwards Ja’Vier Francis and J’Wan Roberts make things unbelievably difficult for opposing post players and key pieces like Terrance Arceneaux and JoJo Tugler are back from injury. The biggest exception is the loss of team leader Jamal Shead, a second-round pick of the Toronto Raptors, whom Houston has replaced with a familiar face in former Oklahoma guard Milos Uzan.

photo by: AP Photo/Rick Scuteri

Arizona guard Caleb Love (2) during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game against Washington, Saturday, Feb. 24, 2024, in Tucson, Ariz.

KU vs. Arizona (March 8)

In the sort of matchup that would never have been possible in previous iterations of the Big 12 with a balanced schedule, the Jayhawks take on the Wildcats for the first time as conference foes — on the last day of the season.

Given both the historic success of the Arizona program, including 25 straight NCAA Tournament appearances, and a couple of recent Sweet 16 berths under Tommy Lloyd, this has the potential to become a key conference rivalry for years to come, and even this year could have league-title implications like the Houston game.

Throw in the Jayhawks’ ongoing streak of 41 straight victories on senior night, and this game will carry a certain level of gravitas.

As for the actual on-court dynamics of the matchup between the two teams, Arizona features a familiar guard for KU fans in Caleb Love, who scored 13 points and took the last unsuccessful shot for North Carolina in the 2022 national title game. He is by far the biggest-name returnee for the Wildcats, who will rely on significant contributions from transfers like Anthony Dell’Orso and Trey Townsend.