BYU Basketball to Open Vegas Showdown Versus Arizona State

We’ve know for a few months that BYU will play in the Vegas Showdown over Thanksgiving, and Tuesday morning ESPN released the matchups.

BYU will open versus Arizona State and play the next day versus either Vanderbilt or NC State. BYU’s game vs ASU will be Thanksgiving (11/23) and tip off at 9pm PT on ESPN2. The Championship game will be Friday at 4:30 PT on ESPN2 and the third place game will be 7:30 PT on ESPN2. Games will be played at Michelob Ultra Arena in Las Vegas.

The game versus ASU will serve as a Big 12 preview before the the Sun Devils join the conference in time for the 2024-2025 season. ASU is coming off a NCAA Tournament appearance where they beat Nevada in a first four game before narrowly falling to 6 seed TCU. This should be a Quad 1 or Quad 2 game for BYU — Neutral site games versus top 50 opponents are quad one, while a top 100 game is a quad two.

The next game versus Vanderbilt or NC State also will likely be a Q1/Q2 game. BYU’s non-conference schedule isn’t quite as challenging as prior years due to the increased difficulty of a Big 12 schedule, but San Diego State, at Utah, Arizona State, and Vandy/NCSU provide solid non-conference opponents.

Below is what we know of BYU’s non-conference schedule. We are still waiting on 3 opponents to be released.

11/1 (Exhibition) — vs Life Pacific (Home)

11/10 — San Diego State (Home)

11/18 — Morgan State (Home)

11/23 & 11/24 — Vegas Showdown, two games among ASU, NC State, and Vanderbilt

12/1 — vs Fresno State (SLC)

12/5 — Evansville (Home)

12/9 — at Utah (Road)

12/13 — Denver

12/16 — Georgia State (Home)

12/20 — Bellarmine (Home)