BYU To Play Arizona State Basketball In NBA Venue Next Season

PROVO, Utah – A pair of old WAC rivals will meet again on the hardwood next season. CBS Sports’ Jon Rothstein reported that BYU will take on Arizona State on December 19th at Talking Stick Resort Arena, home to the NBA’s Phoenix Suns.

Would be #BYU’s first meeting against Arizona State in 11 years. #BYUhoops @kslsports https://t.co/q59jb0IDJH

— Mitch Harper (@Mitch_Harper) April 3, 2020

This game is part of the Jerry Colangelo Classic which will also feature games between Gonzaga against Texas Tech, San Francisco versus Grand Canyon, and Northern Arizona versus San Diego.

The last time BYU and Arizona State met in hoops was in Provo in 2009. BYU won that game 81-68. In the previous season, the two programs squared off at the University of Phoenix football stadium when BYU had Jimmer Fredette and Arizona State had James Harden. It ended up a controversial finish with Arizona State squeaking by to a 76-75 victory.

BYU leads the overall series with Arizona State 27-22. Since 1979, when Arizona State left the WAC to join the Pac-8 (now Pac-12) the two schools have met 13 times on the hardwood.

With BYU’s strong following in the state of Arizona, should make for a well-attended non-conference college basketball game.

“This is going to be a great event for college basketball fans,” said BYU coach Mark Pope. “We’re really excited about the opportunity to play at a great venue against a great program in Arizona State. But we’re even more excited to play in an area that is a hotbed of BYU fans. We have great fans all over the country and we can’t wait to play in front of Cougar fans in Arizona.”

This past season, BYU finished 24-8 overall and ranked No. 18 in the final Associated Press Top 25 poll and played the 20th toughest non-conference schedule according to the Ken Pomeroy ratings. Arizona State was 20-11 and finished third in the Pac-12 Conference standings.

BYU Basketball 2020-21 Schedule (so far)

Here’s what we know so far on BYU basketball’s 2020-21 non-conference schedule.

Home games: Utah Valley (11/28), Boise State, and Utah

Road games: Utah State, Weber State (assumed), San Diego State

Neutral: Junkanoo Jam in the Bahamas: George Mason (11/17) plus Boston College and Tulsa, Arizona State (12/19 Talking Stick Resort Arena)

Mitch Harper is a BYU Insider for sports.ksl.com and host of the Cougar Tracks Podcast (SUBSCRIBE) and Cougar Sports Saturday (Saturday from 12-3 pm) on KSL Newsradio. Follow him on Twitter: @Mitch_Harper.