Kansas head coach Bill Self huddles his players during a timeout in the first half, Saturday, Feb. 21, 2026, at Allen Fieldhouse. Photo by Nick Krug

The increased numerical size and broader geographical footprint of the new-look Big 12 has generated a number of situations in which teams have been scheduled to play back-to-back opponents in the same distant state or region of the country, and so chosen to stick around for a couple days in between games.

The first such opportunity didn’t go so well for Kansas last year when it took on Utah in Salt Lake City and BYU in Provo, Utah, in close succession. Ranked No. 17 at the time, the Jayhawks suffered an upset against the middling Utes, 74-67, on Feb. 15, 2025, and then one of the worst losses in school history against the Cougars, 91-57, three days later. A trip that head coach Bill Self had viewed as an opportunity for team bonding ended with him saying that the members of the team in fact needed to get away from each other.

Now, another year brings another two-game swing for another almost completely different group of Jayhawks.

“Whatever we did last year, let’s do the polar opposite this year, that’s what I learned,” Self said on Thursday. “If we ate red meat last year, let’s eat fish this trip. Because that trip stunk all the way around.”

This time, the Jayhawks will head to the state of Arizona to take on the University of Arizona, No. 2 in the country, in Tucson on Saturday at 3 p.m. Central time, then drive 100 miles northwest to the Valley of the Sun for a date with unranked Arizona State in Tempe on Tuesday at 8 p.m.

“Last year, our last week(long) trip was rough,” said guard Jamari McDowell, who redshirted during the 2024-25 season. “But then again, it was in Utah. I’ve heard Arizona is maybe a little nicer than Utah, so maybe that’ll give us a little help. But honestly, we just got to go out there and be true to ourselves and be who we are away from the fieldhouse. If we do that, be consistent in what we know, then we’ll be just fine.”

The opportunity for the Jayhawks to bring their level of play from Allen Fieldhouse to the Grand Canyon State is particularly relevant in this case because unlike last year — when KU was seeing both the Utes and Cougars for the first time — the 14th-ranked Jayhawks have already played against and beaten Arizona, providing the first of just two losses for the Wildcats all season.

And while KU did have the benefit of home-court advantage for that game, and Allen Fieldhouse was indeed at its finest on Feb. 9, the Jayhawks also didn’t have their potential No. 1 NBA Draft pick in Darryn Peterson due to flu-like symptoms. Peterson has been back in the fold since and has played consecutive full games against Cincinnati and Houston, albeit with unremarkable performances by his standards.

Arizona has also dealt with the absences of freshman forwards Koa Peat and Dwayne Aristode, although both were reportedly returning to practice on Thursday with their status for Saturday still unclear, so that may or may not create an additional difference from the first matchup.

However the Jayhawks and Wildcats’ second bout goes, KU is deviating from its Utah plan in one key way. The Jayhawks will head up to the Phoenix area immediately after facing Arizona, as opposed to lingering in Salt Lake City like they did in 2025. They’re not going to “split up the trip,” Self said.

“Let’s just go and spend the majority of time in Tempe, just so that way we can get there and probably get more situated than last year,” he added. “If I’m not mistaken, we were in Salt Lake and stayed most of the day in Salt Lake and then went to Provo after that. That didn’t have anything to do with the results, but certainly I think this will be a little bit easier for the guys.”

The Sun Devils, who are 14-14 and 5-10 in league play in the final season of head coach Bobby Hurley’s contract, are led by Pepperdine transfer guard Moe Odum and 7-foot-1 freshman center Massamba Diop. They will host Utah on Saturday before welcoming the Jayhawks to Desert Financial Arena.

KU will be making its first visit to each Arizona school since both ASU and UA joined the conference prior to the 2024-25 season.