Villanova to begin a home-and-home series with Kansas starting this year at historic Allen Fieldhouse

An already challenging Villanova nonconference schedule has another marquee opponent.

The Wildcats will travel to play at Kansas on Black Friday, Nov. 27, according to a Wednesday morning announcement from both schools.

A return game hosted by Villanova will follow for the 2027-28 season.

“This is a great opportunity for two elite programs to start a series and play home and home,” wrote Villanova coach Kevin Willard in a news release.

Villanova and Kansas most recently played a home-and-home series in 2018-19 and 2019-20. Both teams won their respective home games, and the combined margin of victory for the contests was four points.

The programs last met in the 2022 Final Four, when Kansas, the eventual national champion, advanced to the title game with an 81-65 victory.

The all-time series between the storied men’s basketball programs is 5-5.

Kansas coach Bill Self contemplated retirement after Kansas lost to St. John’s in the second round of the this year’s NCAA Tournament. But Self, who has dealt with heart issues, is returning for a 24th season leading the Jayhawks.

Kansas becomes the fifth power-conference school on Villanova’s nonconference slate. The Wildcats will open their 2026-27 season in Rome against Notre Dame on Nov. 1. They also are scheduled to host the return game of a home-and-home with defending national champion Michigan, travel to Pittsburgh for the back end of another home-and-home, and play Wisconsin in what technically is a neutral-site game at Xfinity Mobile Arena.

In addition to Villanova’s three Big 5 games, eight of the 11 nonconference games are known at this point. The remaining three seem likely to be “buy games” at home.

The full nonconference schedule is expected to be released in the coming weeks.

» READ MORE: Villanova and Notre Dame officially have an agreement to open the 2026-27 basketball season in Rome

Villanova’s offseason roster rebuild is nearly complete. The Wildcats return leading scorer Tyler Perkins and starting forward Matt Hodge. They signed multiple players in the transfer portal, including forwards Kwame Evans Jr. (Oregon) and Devin Royal (Ohio State) and guards Elijah Crawford (Illinois-Chicago), Jake Fiegen (Cornell), and Buddy Simmons (St. Bonaventure).

They also have talented incoming freshman guard Adam Oumiddoch and returning reserve center Nico Onyekwere.

The Wildcats don’t have a starting center, though. Evans, at 6-foot-10, is better suited as a power forward next to a more traditional big man. Villanova is in the mix to sign 7-foot-3 Italian professional Luigi Suigo, who is going through the NBA draft process.

The addition of Suigo would give Villanova a rotation that likely would be considered a top 25 roster in college basketball.