Iowa State basketball’s 2024-25 Big 12 Conference opponents announced

The 2024-25 schedule for Iowa State men’s basketball is now a bit more clear.

The Big 12 announced the schedule matrix with home and away opponents for the upcoming season on Thursday. Each team will play five opponents twice, home and away, and the remaining Big 12 opponents once during the season.

Iowa State will play Arizona, UCF, Colorado, Kansas and Kansas State twice, once at home and once on the road. The Cyclones will host Baylor, BYU, Cincinnati, TCU and Utah. The team will hit the road to take on Arizona State, Houston, Oklahoma State, Texas Tech and West Virginia.

Opponents were picked on a combination of geography, historic results and a poll of the coaches to best balance the schedule for travel and competitiveness. The complete league schedule, with dates and times, will be released later.

Iowa State has tough matchups against high-caliber programs this season, having to face new Big 12 member Arizona and perennial powerhouse Kansas twice.

Iowa State’s road-only matchups will require some hefty traveling, with their shortest trip of the five being over 500 miles away in Stillwater, Oklahoma to face Oklahoma State. Houston, who the Cyclones will only see on the road, will be a tough test for Iowa State.

These games are in addition to what should be a tough non-conference schedule. The Cyclones have set games with rival Iowa and Shaka Smart’s Marquette, both of which are at home. Iowa State is also scheduled to play in the Maui Invitational the week of Thanksgiving, where they could face the powers of Michigan State, North Carolina, UConn and other top schools.

Iowa State will open its season on Nov. 4 against Mississippi Valley State on Nov. 4.

More: Iowa State basketball freshman Dwayne Pierce to leave program for “personal reasons”

Breakdown of Iowa State basketball’s 2024-25 Big 12 opponents

• Home-and-away: Arizona, UCF, Colorado, Kansas, Kansas State

• Home-only: Baylor, BYU, Cincinnati, TCU, Utah

• Away-only: Arizona State, Houston, Oklahoma State, Texas Tech, West Virginia

Eli McKown covers high school sports and wrestling for the Des Moines Register. Contact him at Emckown@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @EMcKown23

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Iowa State basketball’s 2024-25 Big 12 Conference opponents announced