The season-opener for Utah men's basketball is officially set as the Runnin' Utes square off against Abilene Christian on Tuesday, Nov. 9, inside the Jon M. Huntsman Center on opening night of the 2021-22 college basketball season.

This will serve as the first meeting ever between the two programs when they battle it out on the hardwood in SLC.

The Wildcats went 24-5 overall last season and 13-2 in Southland play while earning the automatic bid after claiming the conference tournament title. Abilene Christian, who was the No. 14 seed, then made a splash in the bubble when it bounced heavily favored No. 3 Texas 53-52 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament inside Lucas Oil Stadium.

Brette Tanner is in his first year at the helm of the Wildcats program after being tapped as the next head coach. Tanner spent the last six seasons as ACU's associate head coach and eight total years with program under Joe Golding.

The 2021-22 will also serve as ACU's first season playing in the Western Athletic Conference after spending the past eight seasons in the Southland Conference.

2021-22 Utah Men's Basketball Schedule
Tuesday, Nov. 9 – Abilene Christian
Saturday, Nov. 13 – Sacramento State
Monday, Nov. 15 – Bethune Cookman^
Saturday, Nov. 20 – vs. Boston College^
Sunday, Nov. 21 – vs. Rhode Island/Tulsa^
Saturday, Nov. 27 – BYU
Wednesday, Dec. 1 – at USC*
Sunday, Dec. 5 – California*
Saturday, Dec. 18 – at Mizzou
Tuesday, Dec. 21 – Fresno State
^-Sunshine Slam MTE (Daytona Beach, Fla.)
*-Pac-12 Conference Game