LEXINGTON – October 19, 2026
The Kentucky men’s basketball team received a No. 23 preseason ranking in both the Associated Press College Basketball Poll and USA Today Coaches Poll, released Monday.
It marks the 59th time in 66 preseason AP polls that the Wildcats are among the teams ranked to begin the year, and the 61st time the Cats have appeared in the first coaches’ poll of the season.
Kentucky leads all programs with 998 appearances in the weekly AP poll and 981 total selections in the coaches’ poll.
Nine opponents on Kentucky’s 2026-27 schedule are ranked ahead of the upcoming season including: Florida (No. 1/1), Texas (No. 7/7), Tennessee (No. 8/9), Virginia (No. 9/10), Louisville (No. 11/11), Arkansas (No. 12/13), Kansas (No. 17/18), Alabama (No. 20/18) and Vanderbilt (No. 24/21). The Wildcats will play a total of 11 games against these nine teams during the regular season. UK will also face No. 19/16 Texas Tech in an exhibition contest this Friday night.
An additional five opponents (Missouri, North Carolina, Indiana, Texas A&M, Auburn) are receiving votes to begin the season.
The Southeastern Conference leads the country with seven teams ranked in the preseason polls, while Missouri and Texas A&M are just outside the top 25 receiving votes.
Kentucky returns five players from its NCAA Tournament Round of 32 squad a year ago as Braydon Hawthorne, Malachi Moreno, Trent Noah, Reece Potter and Kam Williams are all back for the Wildcats. Moreno, an All-SEC Freshman Team selection, started 30 games for the Cats last season and led the team in rebounds per game (6.3), blocks per game (1.47) and field goal percentage (58.2%). Williams saw action in 24 games and made seven starts, despite missing 12 games with a broken foot. He matched the program’s record for most made 3s in a single game when he buried eight against Bellarmine. Noah appeared in 27 contests as a sophomore, twice scoring in double figures, including a career-high 16 points against Tennessee Tech. Both Hawthorne and Potter redshirted in 2025-26.
A well-regarded group of six transfers also enters the fold for Kentucky in 2026-27, headlined by the nation’s leading 3-point shooter from a year ago, Milan Momcilovic. Momcilovic starred for Iowa State last season, averaging 16.9 points per game and making a school-record 136 3s while shooting 48.7 percent from deep. He was rated as a top three transfer this offseason by ESPN, 247 Sports and On3. Joining Momcilovic in the transfer contingent are backcourt pieces Zoom Diallo, Jerone Morton and Alex Wilkins, along with frontcourt additions Franck Kepnang and Justin McBride. Wilkins and McBride were All-Conference selections at Furman and James Madison, respectively, while Diallo and Kepnang both arrive from the University of Washington and Morton returns to his hometown of Lexington after a season at Washington State.
This year’s team also features a trio of college basketball newcomers in Zyon Hawthorne, Ousmane N’Diaye and Mason Williams. Zyon is the younger brother of Braydon and played his final high school season at Huntington Prep. N’Diaye hails from Dakar, Senegal and has experience playing in Europe, most recently with Vanoli Cremona in Italy’s top division. Williams is the son of UK assistant Mo Williams, and averaged 15.1 points, 5.4 assists, 4.5 rebounds and 3.5 steals at Tennessee Collegiate Academy as a senior.
The Wildcats will host Texas Tech for an exhibition matchup this Friday at Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center. Tip time is set for 7 p.m. with the game being broadcast on SEC Network+.
