



The Kansas men's basketball non-conference slate for the 2018-19 season is out. It's just as loaded as ever.

"This is definitely a tremendous nonconference schedule and for a young team it's a lot to try to conquer, especially so early in the season when we have so many guys who will be playing pivotal roles," said KU coach Bill Self in a release. "Hopefully it will be great preparation for once again playing in one of the best leagues, if not the best league, in the country. It's going to be tough. I know our players will enjoy the challenge and I know our fans will enjoy watching them enjoy the challenge."

After kicking things off with Late Night in the Phog (Friday, Sept 28) and a pair of exhibition contests against Emporia State (Thursday, Oct. 25, 7 p.m.) and Washburn (Thursday, Nov. 1, 7 p.m.), the Jayhawks waste little time seeing things ramp up.

KU opens its season against Michigan State in the Champions Classic on Tuesday, Nov. 6. From there the Jayhawks will play in back-to-back home games against Vermont (Monday, Nov. 12, 7 p.m.) and Louisiana (Friday, Nov. 16, 7 p.m.) before heading to Brooklyn for the semifinals and likely the final of the NIT Season Tip-Off event.

Those final games will take place on Nov. 21 and Nov. 23.

After that the Jayhawks will play host to Stanford (Saturday, Dec. 1) and Wofford (Tuesday, Dec. 4, 7 p.m.) before playing their yearly home game at Sprint Center — this time against New Mexico State (Saturday, Dec. 8).

Perhaps the biggest tests of the season come right after, as the Jayhawks will take on Villanova in Allen Fieldhouse on Dec. 15 — a return meeting of KU's Final Four loss this last season — and travel to Tempe to take on Arizona State on Dec. 22 — a rematch of a game the Jayhawks lost last year in Allen Fieldhouse. In between those two Saturday games, the Jayhawks will take on South Dakota (Tuesday, Dec. 18, 7 p.m.) in Allen Fieldhouse.

Rounding out the schedule is a home matchup against Eastern Michigan (Saturday, December 29) and the Big 12/SEC Challenge, which will see the Jayhawks head to Rupp Arena to take on the Kentucky Wildcats (Saturday, Jan. 26). The Jayhawks have defeated the Wildcats in their last three meetings.

"We always play a great schedule," Self added in the release. "But next year's, certainly, has an opportunity to probably be most talked about going into the season because we're hosting the reigning national champions. We saw what Villanova did to us in the Final Four, so that will be an exciting game for all our fans. We play Michigan State in the Champions Classic to start the season. Those are marquee names, and that doesn't include hosting Stanford, or going to Arizona State, or the preseason NIT, in which we're guaranteed to play two of these teams - Louisville, Tennessee or Marquette."

Other announced dates on the schedule include the Big 12 tournament, which will take place in Kansas City from Wednesday, March 13 to Saturday, March 16. It is unlikely the Jayhawks will play on the first day of the event, which is reserved for the seventh-through-10th place teams.

NCAA tournament action will begin on Thursday, March 21, while the Final Four will take place on Saturday, April 6 and Monday, April 8.

Game times for several contest have not yet been announced. Again, here is the schedule to date: