KU, Arizona State agree to home-and-home basketball series

Kansas will play Arizona State in a home-and-home men’s basketball series the next two seasons, KU special assistant to the athletic director Larry Keating confirmed Wednesday.

KU will play host to Arizona State on Dec. 10 at Allen Fieldhouse and travel to Tempe, Ariz., for a game on Dec. 22, 2018. It is believed Sam Cunliffe, a KU transfer from Arizona State, will not be able to play in the game next season. The last day of KU fall semester finals is Dec. 15 and he is not eligible to play in games until the end of first semester, in accordance with NCAA transfer rules.

The series was revealed Wednesday on Arizona State’s official website. Sun Devils coach Bobby Hurley had announced the series Tuesday on his weekly radio show, as reported by AZCentral.com.

“We are excited about playing Kansas in each of the next two seasons,” Hurley said on the school’s website. “We have had our team travel to Lexington last year, play the No. 1 team in the Bahamas and also play in the Jimmy V Classic in Madison Square Garden, so this is another great step.

“This home-and-home is the kind of series we want on our schedule. Getting great programs to visit Wells Fargo Arena is a high priority, and we appreciate Kansas and Coach (Bill) Self agreeing to what will be a very entertaining two-year match-up.”

The Jayhawks will meet Kentucky in the Champions Classic next season on Nov. 14 in Chicago. KU also will have a game at Allen Fieldhouse in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge against a yet-to-be determined opponent.

KU will travel to Nebraska to complete a two-year home-and-home with a game on Dec. 16. KU will play Syracuse in one game in the Hall of Fame Classic on Dec. 2 in Miami. The Jayhawks will meet Stanford on Dec. 21 in Sacramento, Calif., in the second game of a four-year series.

KU leads the all-time series against the Sun Devils 5-4. The last meeting was KU’s 108-76 NCAA Tournament win on March 22, 2003 in Oklahoma City.

This story was originally published March 1, 2017 at 12:29 PM with the headline "KU, Arizona State agree to home-and-home basketball series."