BYU athletics released the full nonconference schedule for the 2025–26 men's basketball team late Tuesday morning.
NON-CONFERENCE SCHEDULE 🗓️ pic.twitter.com/TlDhM1ek47
— BYU Men's Basketball (@BYUMBB) July 22, 2025
Outside of the matchup with Clemson, tipoff times and TV information have not been announced.
In the official news release, BYU men’s basketball sports information director Tyson Jex noted that the Cougars’ 13-game nonconference schedule will open with four schools that advanced to last season’s NCAA Tournament.
One of those matchups is a rematch with Wisconsin — a team BYU defeated 91–89 in the second round, sealed by a clutch defensive stop from Mawot Mag.
Here’s another angle of the final play. Mawot Mag gets the stop against John Tonje to advance the Cougars to the Sweet 16!! pic.twitter.com/UKAbhFcWNW
— TorresOnBYU (@TorresOnBYU) March 23, 2025
Looking Back
Head coach Kevin Young has publicly stated multiple times that he felt last year’s nonconference schedule hurt his team.
“We felt like it hurt us a lot going into Big 12 play last year that we didn’t have tougher opponents in nonconference,” Young said. “So that was really the genesis of upgrading it."
After opening the season against five consecutive weaker opponents, the Cougars weren’t ready for an overtime thriller against No. 23 Ole Miss at a neutral site.
Just a few days later, they struggled in a physical battle with Big East opponent Providence, who routed BYU by nearly 20 points in Rhode Island.
Last year’s nonconference schedule was all but finalized before Young took the job in Provo.
Looking Ahead
Now that he has had a full offseason to adjust from the NBA to college, Young is doing things differently this year — and he has some help.
"Getting AJ was big. Once AJ got on board, the phone was ringing a lot more,” Young said.
In their wildest dreams, BYU fans likely never imagined a season opener in Las Vegas against 2018 national champion Villanova — but that’s what happens when you land the nation’s No. 1 recruit.
Less than two weeks later, the Cougars will travel to TD Garden in Boston to face UConn — the back-to-back national champions in 2023 and 2024 — in the hometown of Dybantsa.
Dybantsa told BYUtv’s Spencer Linton and Dave McCann on Monday, “I’ve played there before. I’m 1-0 in TD Garden, so I plan on being 2-0.”
Fans have known about some of these bigger games for a while, although many are on the road, exhibitions or at neutral sites.
BYU will play three games at the Delta Center, home of the Utah Jazz, including an exhibition against North Carolina.
As if traveling to Las Vegas and Boston isn’t enough, the Cougars will also participate in Terry’s Chocolate ESPN Invitational in Orlando, Florida, on Thanksgiving weekend.
On Dec. 9, the Cougars will take on the Clemson Tigers in the Jimmy V Classic in New York City. It will be the third all-time meeting between the schools.
At home, the Cougars will face Holy Cross, Delaware, UC Riverside, Pacific, Abilene Christian and Eastern Washington.
In their second game of the season last year, the Cougars defeated UC Riverside 86–80, with now-NBA lottery pick Egor Demin recording 20 points, seven assists and five rebounds.
Pacific, a former West Coast Conference foe, will come to town Dec. 16 — just a few days after BYU’s rematch with UC Riverside.
Overall, it’s a nonconference slate that should better prepare the Cougars for the challenges of Big 12 play compared to last year’s schedule.