Early Look At 2021-22 BYU Basketball Schedule For Out Of Conference Games

PROVO, Utah – The college hoops season is a wrap amidst a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic, but it’s never too early to look at what’s next for BYU Basketball on their 2021-22 schedule.

S P L A S H 💦 pic.twitter.com/4JFYYbPhBN

— BYU Men's Basketball (@BYUMBB) March 10, 2021

Being in a mid-major conference like the WCC, having a challenging non-conference will pay dividends for BYU if they hope to return to the NCAA Tournament. Playing National Runner-Up Gonzaga up to three times is a nice luxury, but they can’t rely on that to secure an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament.

The first two years of the Mark Pope era have garnered difficult non-conference slates, leading to impressive at-large resumes.

BYU assistant coach Nick Robinson is in charge of the Cougars non-conference schedule. He and Pope wanted to create as tough of a schedule as possible this past year, and it ended up being the 65th best non-conference slate in college hoops. What do they have on deck for next year?

2021-22 BYU Basketball Schedule in non-conference

Here’s an early look at the 2021-22 BYU basketball non-conference schedule.

Multi-Team Event (MTE)

BYU will participate in the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic in Honolulu from December 22, 23, and 25. The field includes host Hawaii, Liberty, Northern Iowa, South Florida, Wyoming, and two Power 6 teams in Stanford and Vanderbilt.

Christmas in Hawaii for #BYU basketball this season. 🤙🌴#BYUHoops #GoCougs https://t.co/GnKeaU4B8S

— KSL Sports (@kslsports) May 4, 2021

Games against Power Conference teams

at Utah, TBD

at Oregon* (Possible game, not official)

The BYU/Utah rivalry will continue with Craig Smith as the head coach of the Utes. Both Pope and Smith have formed a good relationship in the past, and each sees the value in maintaining the historic rivalry. The two programs are currently in the middle of a four-game series that began this past year with BYU defeating the Utes, 82-64. BYU will travel to the Huntsman Center in 2021 and 2023, with Utah returning to Provo in 2022.

Craig Smith said that he wants to keep the Utah/BYU series going.#GoUtes

— KSL Sports (@kslsports) March 27, 2021

BYU had a scheduled game against Arizona State in the Jerry Colangelo Classic last December, but COVID-19 derailed those plans. The four-game quadruple-header was rescheduled for December 18th, 2021. But BYU and ASU won’t be in the mix. Instead, USC vs. Georgia Tech stepped into the four-game event.

Back on February 1st, during his weekly coaches show, BYU coach Mark Pope said that a game at Oregon could be a possibility for the 2021-22 season. Pope said, “We think —it’s not done in stone— we’re playing at Oregon next year.”

Both programs were going to play in a neutral site game this past season, but like the ASU contest, the matchup with the Ducks was canceled due to COVID-19.

Games against Mid-Major programs

vs. Iona (Per reports)

San Diego State (in Provo)

at Utah Valley

vs. Utah State (Expected game, not official)

vs. Weber State (Expected game, not official)

Mark Pope will reportedly face his old mentor in Rick Pitino, who’s now the Iona Gaels head coach. Pitino led Iona to an NCAA Tournament appearance this past season in his first year as the head coach. Pope played for Pitino as a player at Kentucky.

Rick Pitino also tells me that Iona and BYU plan to start a home-and-home series during the 21-22 season.

The initial location is TBD, but Iona's home game in the series will be at Madison Square Garden. https://t.co/XZFqiSUuKc

— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) October 23, 2020

Pitino told Jon Rothstein that the series would be a home-and-home and that Iona’s “home game” would be played at Madison Square Garden. BYU’s location for the series is to be determined. The Cougars have traditionally had one game played at the Vivint Arena, home of the Utah Jazz.

San Diego State will travel to BYU to conclude the second game of a two-game series between the two schools. BYU upset the Aztecs on Montezuma Mesa last season by a score of 72-62. Like BYU, the Aztecs were a 6-seed in the 2021 NCAA Tournament.

BYU scheduled a three-game series with Mark Pope’s old coaching stop, Utah Valley, in the winter of 2020. The first game of the three-game Crosstown Clash was played this past year, with BYU winning 82-60. This season, BYU will make the trek down University Parkway for only the second time in program history at the UCCU Center. The three-game series will conclude in Provo in 2022.

Nothing is official on games against Utah State and Weber State for next year’s out-of-conference, but BYU coach Mark Pope has shown a passion, like Dave Rose, to play in-state games. The Cougars have played Weber State every year since 1980. Utah State has been on BYU’s non-conference schedule each of the last 13 seasons.

What needs to be sorted out on the BYU Basketball Schedule

Guaranteed home games

The remainder of the games could be many guaranteed one-off home games against programs from smaller conferences.

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 p.m., KSL Newsradio). Follow him on Twitter: @Mitch_Harper and the KSL Sports app.