Arizona women’s basketball to host Gonzaga in 2020-21 as part of big home-and-home series

The Arizona women’s basketball team will host Gonzaga in December as part of a home-and-home series, sources said.

The Bulldogs went 31-2 and won the West Coast Conference last season, finishing 13th in the final AP poll, just one spot below the Wildcats.

Other items on Arizona’s 2020-21 non-conference schedule include a home game vs. Texas and a tournament in Las Vegas around Christmastime that features LSU, Missouri State and UNLV, per sources.

The Texas or Gonzaga game could mark the first time since 2008 that Arizona hosts a ranked team in the non-conference season. The Longhorns received votes in the final AP poll and made a big splash this offseason by hiring Mississippi State head coach Vic Schaefer to the same position.

UA routed Texas in Austin last season when Aari McDonald famously exploded for a program-record 44 points.

Arizona head coach Adia Barnes has been extremely careful about overloading the non-conference schedule since the Pac-12 season is already so difficult. But that philosophy is obviously changing now that the Wildcats are a legitimate Final Four contender.

They will make a return trip to Gonzaga in 2021-22. The Arizona men’s team will travel to Gonzaga in 2020-21 after it hosted the Bulldogs in 2019-20. That seems like a promising partnership for two of the West’s top basketball programs.