BYU-Arizona is going back to Big Monday. ESPN kept the matchup. BYU now has to prove the matchup survived more than one famous roster.
Arizona will visit the Marriott Center on Monday, Feb. 22, 2027, at 7 p.m. Mountain on ESPN. The Big 12 and ESPN announced the assignment Monday, making it one of five conference games in the network’s late-season Monday window.
The television listing is the easy part. The harder and more useful part is what the return invitation says about BYU basketball after AJ Dybantsa, Richie Saunders and last season’s 23-win team moved on.
ESPN could have treated January’s 86-83 Arizona win in Provo as a one-season event built around Dybantsa and an undefeated No. 1 team. Instead, it booked the sequel in the same building. The Cougars earned another national stage before their rebuilt roster has played a game together.
That is respect. It is also a bill due in February.
The Big Monday facts
| Detail | Confirmed assignment |
|---|---|
| Matchup | Arizona at BYU |
| Date | Monday, Feb. 22, 2027 |
| Tip time | 7 p.m. Mountain / 9 p.m. Eastern |
| Venue | Marriott Center, Provo |
| Network | ESPN |
| Conference window | Fourth of five Big 12 Big Monday games |
This is a schedule announcement, not the full game-week watch guide. BYU’s current men’s basketball schedule still shows the announced nonconference slate while the complete Big 12 calendar is being filled in. We will attach the permanent official event ID, live stats and any radio or streaming details when BYU publishes the event record closer to the season.
For now, the network has fixed the two details fans need to save: Feb. 22 and ESPN.
Last season made the rematch unavoidable
Arizona won both meetings in 2025-26, but neither game gave the Wildcats a comfortable ending.
The first was the Big Monday game in Provo. Arizona led 64-45 with 10:53 left, then watched BYU turn a 19-point deficit into a one-possession finish. Dybantsa scored 24. Saunders scored 18. Kennard Davis Jr. hit five 3-pointers and scored 17. BYU pulled within 84-83 before Brayden Burries blocked Robert Wright III’s late drive, and the Wildcats escaped 86-83.
Arizona’s official box score shows the shape of the damage. The Wildcats shot 52.8% from the field and scored 15 points off turnovers. BYU made only 3 of 14 shots from deep in the first half before hitting 10 of 20 after halftime. The comeback was real, but it was also an expensive attempt to repair a game BYU had let Arizona organize for too long.
The rematch in Tucson ended 75-68. BYU shot 5 of 19 from 3-point range, Arizona made 9 of 21 and the Wildcats built a 16-point second-half lead before another late Cougar push. Two games, two recoveries, two Arizona wins.
The Big 12 says each of the last three meetings has been decided by seven points or fewer. That is the network pitch in one sentence. BYU and Arizona have produced close games with enough offense, late pressure and crowd energy to justify a protected television window.
The part BYU should remember is less flattering: making the ending dramatic is not the same as controlling the game.
Wright has to become the reason the game works
Last season’s Provo meeting had an obvious poster player in Dybantsa. The 2027 game will ask Wright to carry a different kind of attention.
BYU Athletics lists Wright’s 2025-26 averages at 18.1 points, 4.6 assists and 3.5 rebounds. He started 35 games, reached double figures 32 times and recorded 162 assists, the tenth-highest single-season total in program history. Those are lead-guard numbers.
His Arizona tape was messier. Wright scored seven points on 3-of-16 shooting in the Big Monday loss, then finished with 14 points and six assists in Tucson while committing five turnovers. Arizona repeatedly made him solve length and traffic after the first action broke down.
That history makes the Feb. 22 assignment useful months before tipoff. BYU does not need Wright to imitate Dybantsa’s scoring role. It needs him to make a new roster legible under pressure.
Can he get BYU into offense before Arizona loads the paint? Can he create a clean second-side touch instead of forcing a rescue attempt? Can he keep the Cougars attached when the Wildcats put together the kind of 8-0 run that turned both meetings last season?
The current BYU roster gives him different help. Dawson Baker and Khadim Mboup return. Collin Chandler and Jake Wahlin are back in Utah. Tyler Betsey brings experience from Cincinnati and Syracuse. Bruce Branch III headlines a freshman group that also includes Dean Rueckert, Brooks Bahr and Dovydas Buika.
There is size and recruiting reputation on that list. There is not yet a possession everybody trusts when ESPN returns from a timeout and Arizona has changed the coverage.
That is Wright’s job to build.
The date changes how BYU should read the assignment
Feb. 22 is late enough that nobody can call the Cougars new anymore.
By then, BYU will have gone through its nonconference schedule, including Ohio State, Maui, Northwestern and Utah State. It will have spent nearly two months in Big 12 play. Young should know which lineups defend, which freshmen can stay on the floor and who gets the ball when the first option disappears.
ESPN’s five-game Big 12 slate is built for games with standings weight. Kansas visits Houston on Feb. 1. TCU goes to Arizona on Feb. 8. Houston visits Texas Tech on Feb. 15. Arizona comes to Provo on Feb. 22, then Iowa State visits Kansas on March 1.
BYU is not filler in that sequence. It owns the fourth Monday, at home, against the reigning Big 12 champion and a 2026 Final Four team.
ESPN’s announcement used its early rankings to frame Arizona at No. 6 and BYU at No. 19. Those are September expectations, not February facts. Injuries, lineup changes and four months of results will rewrite the matchup long before tipoff. The useful signal is that both programs entered the season with enough national interest to be scheduled beside Kansas, Houston and Texas Tech.
For BYU, the late date removes the easiest excuse. A young team can look confused in November. A changed roster can need time in December. By Feb. 22, confusion is a result.
The Marriott Center gets another chance to finish the job
Last season’s Arizona visit drew 18,239 fans. The building did its part. BYU erased nearly all of a 19-point deficit, and the final possession carried enough noise and tension to make the game feel larger than a normal January conference date.
The crowd cannot erase the first 30 minutes again.
The 2027 version should be judged by whether BYU makes Arizona uncomfortable before desperation arrives. Watch the turnover margin. Watch whether the Cougars can score at the rim without turning every drive into a collision. Watch whether BYU’s frontcourt can finish defensive possessions instead of giving Arizona another action. Most of all, watch whether Wright can control pace without having to dominate the ball.
The Maui bracket will give this roster its first compressed national test. Big Monday is the later receipt. By then, BYU should be able to show ESPN and Arizona exactly what kind of team replaced the Dybantsa group.
The network has already done BYU one favor: it decided last season’s near-comeback was worth revisiting.
The Cougars should spend the next five months building a game that does not need another near-comeback to be remembered.
Sources and further reading
- BYU Athletics: BYU and Arizona return to ESPN Big Monday for the Feb. 22 date, 7 p.m. Mountain tip, Marriott Center assignment, returning BYU personnel and Wright’s 2025-26 season line.
- Big 12 Conference: 2027 Big Monday slate for the five-game conference schedule, Arizona’s 2025-26 championship and Final Four context, and the recent close-game series note.
- ESPN Press Room: 2027 men’s college basketball Big Monday schedule for the full ACC/Big 12 doubleheader calendar, network assignments and ESPN’s preseason framing.
- Arizona Athletics: Jan. 26 box score and Feb. 18 box score for the final scores, shooting splits, turnovers, margins and player lines from Arizona’s two 2025-26 wins over BYU.
