2023 Big East-Big 12 Battle matchups announced

The matchups for the fifth-annual Big East-Big 12 Battle were announced this week, and a pair of high-profile programs will come to the Sunflower State for the even this December.

The Kansas Jayhawks will host the UConn Huskies at Allen Fieldhouse on Saturday, Dec. 1 in a duel between the two most recent national champions. KU won the Big 12 last season and earned a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament for the fifth time in the last seven tournament. The Jayhawks will have plenty of production to replace from last year’s team, with only Dajuan Harris and K.J. Adams currently expected back form the 2022-23 starting lineup.

Connecticut just won its fifth national championship in the last 24 years earlier this week and its first under coach Danny Hurley. There hasn’t been much movement with the Huskies’ roster yet, but a majority of their title roster has eligibility remaining. Kansas is 3-1 all time in the event while UConn is 1-1 and the upcoming meeting between the two programs will be their first since the second round of the 2016 NCAA tournament.

The Kansas State Wildcats will also be at home for this year’s Big East-Big 12 Battle and will host the Villanova Wildcats. That game is scheduled for Dec. 5. K-State is coming off its best season in five years under first-year coach Jerome Tang, reaching the Elite Eight and spending the final 10 weeks of the regular season in the top 15 of the AP Top 25 poll. Next season’s Wildcats roster will look far different than the 2022-23 version, though, with several key contributors, including Markquis Nowell and Keyontae Johnson, departing.

Villanova has been one college basketball’s powerhouses over the past decade, but took a step back last season under first-year coach Kyle Neptune. K-State has never won a game in the Big East-Big 12 Battle, including a loss to the Butler Bulldogs last season, while Villanova is 3-1 in the event. This will also be just the second-ever meeting between these two Wildcats, with Villanova winning the first matchup back in 1940.

The full list of matchups for the 2023 Big East-Big 12 Battle is below:

Nov. 30 – Texas Tech at Butler
Nov. 30 – Creighton at Oklahoma State
Dec. 1 – Iowa State at DePaul
Dec. 1 – Houston at Xavier
Dec. 1 – UConn at Kansas
Dec. 1 – St. John’s at West Virginia
Dec. 2 – TCU at Georgetown
Dec. 5 – Texas at Marquette
Dec. 5 – Providence at Oklahoma
Dec. 5 – Villanova at Kansas State
Dec. 5 – Seton Hall at Baylor