Big 12 teams (not just KU, K-State) have struggled mightily with BYU, Utah road swing
At first glance, the Big 12 appeared to do a scheduling favor for many of its men’s basketball teams when the conference arranged for Kansas, K-State and others to play back-to-back road games against BYU and Utah this season.
Upon further evaluation, the league may have created a new and daunting challenge for them instead.
The Jayhawks and the Wildcats were the latest Big 12 teams to travel to the Wasatch Mountains and come home with a pair of humbling losses. K-State lost 80-65 at BYU and then 74-69 at Utah. Kansas fell 74-67 at Utah and then things really got ugly during a 91-57 defeat at BYU.
Both teams flew to Utah on Friday and stayed in the Mountain Time Zone until all of their games were complete. K-State flew home in snowy conditions on Monday night. KU didn’t return home until early Wednesday morning.
Bill Self spoke as if the road swing was torture on his way out of Marriott Center.
“We need to get away from each other,” Self said. “I’ll tell you that point blank. I thought this would be a great opportunity to be a team bonding situation, but it hasn’t been. It hasn’t been a good trip and guys need to get home.”
Jerome Tang wasn’t quite as negative about K-State’s time in the Salt Lake City area, but he did make it clear that he is looking forward to playing a home game against Arizona State on Sunday.
“Now we get to play at the house,” Tang said. “That is going to be different. It’s just hard to win on the road.”
Big 12 road wins are hard to come by in any location, but the BYU/Utah road swing poses a unique set of challenges. Not only do the road teams have to battle boredom as they stay on the road for four or five days, but they also have to deal with altitude. The Cougars and Utes are used to the elements. That isn’t the case for teams located east of the Rocky Mountains.
Pac-12 coaches used to complain about playing Colorado and Utah in back-to-back games. The second matchup on that road swing was always particularly difficult. So far, Big 12 teams are struggling mightily with the same challenges.
Big 12 teams are 3-9 on the BYU/Utah road swing this season, with only Texas Tech going 2-0.
Four teams have gone winless on their trips: Cincinnati, Kansas, K-State and Oklahoma State. The home teams won those games by a point differential of 129, for an average win of 16.1 points for BYU and Utah.
Baylor managed a split, as it pounded Utah by 15 and then lost to BYU in overtime.
Road teams have gone 1-5 in the second leg of the BYU/Utah road swing.
Texas Tech managed to crush Utah by 28 and then beat BYU by five. Perhaps Grant McCasland can share his secrets at the conference’s next coaches meeting.
Both BYU (13-2) and Utah (14-3) have been strong home teams all season, regardless of the circumstances. But some of the teams that have defeated them, like Arizona and Saint Mary’s, benefited from a short trip into the region.
The BYU/Utah road swing is likely here to stay, because it allows Big 12 teams to pay for one chartered flight in and out of the area instead of two. Similar road swings have been arranged for teams that play Cincinnati and West Virginia or Arizona and Arizona State in back-to-back games. So visiting teams will need to get used to it.
Perhaps that will happen over time. Thus far, the home teams have dominated.
This story was originally published February 19, 2025 at 12:03 PM with the headline "Big 12 teams (not just KU, K-State) have struggled mightily with BYU, Utah road swing."