Fans of Arizona women’s basketball will have plenty of opportunities to get to know the new team next season. The Wildcats will play two exhibition games and 11 nonconference games. All 13 will be at home. When combined with nine home conference games, that puts the ‘Cats in McKale Center 22 times in 2025-26.
The number of home games is unusual, but it wasn’t entirely in the hands of new head coach Becky Burke.
“When you walk into a program in year one, a lot of the scheduling is out of your control,” Burke said. “A lot of it has already been…done. A lot of it’s already set in stone. So, that’s one thing that I dealt with, as far as the schedule being somewhat already put together before I got here.”
That doesn’t necessarily mean the schedule is a bad thing. Burke echoed some of the things former head coach Adia Barnes said about her scheduling philosophy. Namely, a coach should schedule for the kind of team she has. Burke also pointed to some of the unique challenges of her first Arizona team.
“We’ve got 13 new players, and we’ve never played together before,” Burke said. “We have a brand new staff. There’s an art to it. But, like I said, there was a lot done before I got here. Now, next year, you go in and you know what your team’s looking like, and you’ve got your first recruiting cycle in there. I think now you approach scheduling a little bit differently from that point. So I think it’s pretty much the way everybody does it. You want to build confidence, but you also want to challenge yourself and be smart about your best chance to be an NCAA tournament team.”
There are other advantages to playing a lot at home. The Wildcats had one of the largest fan bases in the country for women’s basketball under Barnes, and the meet-and-greet event the program held recently indicated that the fans are excited about the future. More home games mean more tickets sold and more money for the program.
Burke also believes that seeing what the program means to the community helped demonstrate to the players what they need to do to maintain the tradition of Arizona women’s basketball.
“Everybody was extremely just in awe of the support,” she said. “I think we knew and the players know, but to see and experience it yourself and be in an environment where it truly is happening, I think, is a little bit different. So I think that was a wake up call for everybody. And they really appreciated the support. You know, ‘Hey, we’ve told you about this fan base. We’ve told you about the investment. We’ve told you about this community, how much they care. And, okay, it’s real.’ One of those wake-up calls for those guys. Like, ‘Oh, wow. Okay, this is real. This is legitimate. Let’s be a little sharper today.‘”
It starts to get real in late October. Arizona will start the Burke era with an exhibition game against West Texas A&M on Thursday, Oct. 23 in McKale Center. One week later, the Wildcats welcome Cal State LA for another exhibition.
The regular season starts with UC Riverside on Monday, Nov. 6. UC Irvine follows on Nov. 9.
The slate of home games continues with Grambling State on Nov. 16. The Wildcats will try to get revenge on NAU on Nov. 21. The Lumberjacks beat Arizona twice last season, including the opener of the WBIT in McKale Center.
Northern Colorado comes to Tucson on Nov. 25. On Nov. 29, it’s Cal State Bakersfield’s turn to come to McKale Center.
The first week of December has Southern (Dec. 3) and New Mexico (Dec. 7) in town.
The Wildcats will hold Field Trip Day on Dec. 10 when Eastern Kentucky comes to town. It marks the return of a kids’ day event that hasn’t been held in McKale Center since before the pandemic.
“There’s a lot of initiatives that we’re doing just within our marketing department,” Burke said. “All that stuff is so important because everybody in the community, that’s who we play for. That’s why we play…We’re trying to keep the excitement here, build the fan base and maintain the fan base. All of that stuff matters. So I embrace all the themes and all the excitement, anything that we can do.”
UA wraps up the nonconference season with a game against Chicago State on Dec. 15 and a final contest against Bellarmine on Dec. 18.
The Big 12 released the conference pairings in mid-June. The league has not released dates, times, or linear TV information yet. All home games and conference games will appear either on ESPN+ or one of the Big 12 linear TV partners.
