Baylor, Memphis announce four-year home-and-home series

Baylor and Memphis have only played each other once in the modern era. The two programs will now meet four times in the next four seasons, creating a third of their all-time matchups by the end of it, per their announcements on Monday.

Baylor and Memphis have each announced a home-and-home series versus one another starting this season and going through 2028. The Bears will play in FedEx Forum to bookend this series starting this season in 2025 and ending in 2028 while the Tigers are set to come to Waco in 2026 and in 2027.

Jon Rothstein at CBS Sports also reported on the news of the series this morning. That included a date, as well as a network and time slot, for the game, which the schools have shared as well, with Baylor playing Memphis at FedEx Forum on December 6th at 4:30 p.m. EST/3:30 p.m. CT on CBS.

Baylor and Memphis have played each other seven times ever with the Tigers holding the lead at 5-2. The first five were home matchups from 1959 through 1977 with the Tigers going 4-1 in those. The sixth was then an opening-round matchup in the 1988 NCAA Tournament, which Memphis won 75-60 in South Bend, Indiana. However, the Bears won the most recent matchup, which is the only one played between them in the past nearly four decades, in a 71-47 blowout in the semifinals of the 2014 Las Vegas Invitational.

Baylor is coming off what could be considered one of their more disappointing seasons recently, going 20-15 (10-10) in their 22nd year under Scott Drew. That had them among the final at-larges who made the 2025 NCAA Tournament as a No. 9 seed, winning in the opening round before being eliminated in a blowout by No. 1 Duke in Raleigh. The Bears lost each of their five leading contributors, and double-digit players in total, from last season to eligibility, the draft, or the portal with them replacing those names this offseason with seven commitments to a Top-20 transfer class as well as a trio of incoming freshmen led by a five-star signee in Tounde Yessoufou.

Memphis is then coming out of their best finish in a dozen years, including of the seven total under Penny Hardaway, by going 29-6 (16-2). They’d win both conference titles in the American before going on to be upset as a No. 5 seed by No. 12 Colorado State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in Seattle. The Tigers are also in a similar place with roster turnover, losing double-digit players to eligibility and the portal and now bringing in nine transfers in over this offseason.

With under four months until the season tips off for ’25-’26, Baylor and Memphis have their non-conference schedules coming together. The Bears are, besides this, currently set to play Creighton and St. John’s in the Player’s Era Festival later in November as well a game against Louisville in Forth Worth, Texas on Valentine’s Day. The Tigers are then playing Purdue and one of Texas Tech or Wake Forest in the Baha Mar Championship in November, Louisville too on December 13th, and Vanderbilt as well at home on December 17th.

Baylor and Memphis haven’t come across one another very much over the past 40 years. That’ll now change over the next four with one game a year with a pair at home and away apiece for each.