The Kentucky men’s basketball team has set its 2023-24 nonconference schedule, head coach John Calipari announced Thursday. The 13-game nonconference schedule includes nine home contests at Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center, an away tilt at in-state foe Louisville and three neutral-site matchups.
The Southeastern Conference slate, along with television networks and game times will be announced at a later date.
After a pair of to-be-determined exhibition contests, the Cats open the home schedule against New Mexico State on Nov. 6, travel to Chicago for a State Farm Champions Classic matchup against Kansas on Nov. 14 and wrap up the month with an ACC/SEC Challenge contest against Miami on Nov. 28. Kentucky squares off with North Carolina in the CBS Sports Classic on Dec. 16 in Atlanta, travels to Louisville on Dec. 21 and hosts Gonzaga on Feb. 10.
Along with those matchups, the Cats face Texas A&M University-Commerce (Nov. 10), Stonehill (Nov. 17) and Saint Joseph’s (Nov. 20) in the three-game Wildcat Challenge presented by Kentucky Tourism. UK also has home contests against Marshall (Nov. 24), UNC-Wilmington (Dec. 2) and Illinois State (Dec. 29) along with a matchup against Penn at Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia on Dec. 9.
In SEC play, the Cats will take on permanent home-and-away opponents Florida, Tennessee and Vanderbilt along with playing Arkansas and Mississippi State twice in the regular season. Along with those five teams, Kentucky will host Alabama, Georgia, Ole Miss and Missouri and travel to Auburn, LSU, South Carolina and Texas A&M.
In all, the Wildcats will face 10 teams who reached the 2022-23 NCAA Tournament a total of 13 times this season. Kentucky will take on five Sweet Sixteen teams from a year ago.
Opponent
2022-23 Record
Postseason
Final NET Ranking
Final Ranking (AP/Coaches)
KenPom.com Final Ranking
Series History
Last Meeting
New Mexico State
9-15
—
191
-/-
187
UK leads 1-0
UK won 82-60 on March 12, 1999
Texas A&M-Commerce
13-20
—
306
-/-
307
Never met
First meeting
Kansas
28-8
NCAA Second Round
9
4/11
9
UK leads 24-11
KU won 77-68 on Jan. 28, 2023
Stonehill
14-17
—
310
-/-
331
Never met
First meeting
Saint Joseph’s
16-17
—
201
-/-
191
UK leads 2-0
UK won 102-72 on March 20, 1997
Marshall
24-8
—
83
-/-
83
UK leads 12-0
UK won 82-54 on Dec. 22, 2012
Miami
29-8
NCAA Final Four
21
16/3
24
UK leads 3-1
UofM won 73-67 on Dec. 6, 2008
UNC-Wilmington
24-10
—
141
-/-
152
Never met
First meeting
Penn
17-13
—
138
-/-
126
UK leads 5-0
UK won 86-62 on Jan. 3, 2011
North Carolina
20-13
—
44
-/-
43
UNC leads 25-17
UK won 98-69 on Dec. 17, 2021
Louisville
4-28
—
314
-/-
290
UK leads 38-17
UK won 86-63 on Dec. 31, 2022
Illinois State
11-21
—
283
-/-
289
UK leads 1-0
UK won 75-63 on Nov. 30, 2015
Gonzaga
31-6
NCAA Elite Eight
8
9/10
8
Series is tied 1-1
GU won 88-71 on Nov. 20, 2022
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
Tennessee
25-11
NCAA Sweet 16
5
20/16
6
UK leads 160-77
UK won 66-54 on Feb. 18, 2023
Arkansas
22-14
NCAA Sweet 16
20
-/21
22
UK leads 34-14
UK won 88-79 on March 4, 2023
Alabama
31-6
NCAA Sweet 16
2
1/4
4
UK leads 116-41
UA won 78-52 on Jan. 7, 2023
Texas A&M
25-10
NCAA First Round
28
17/25
33
UK leads 13-4
UK won 76-67 on Jan. 21, 2023
Mississippi State
21-13
NCAA First Four
53
-/-
53
UK leads 101-21
UK won 71-68 on Feb. 15, 2023
Auburn
21-13
NCAA Second Round
35
-/-
32
UK leads 97-23
UK won 86-54 on Feb. 25, 2023
Florida
16-17
NIT First Round
73
-/-
74
UK leads 109-41
UK won 82-74 on Feb. 22, 2023
Vanderbilt
22-15
NIT Third Round
81
-/-
81
UK leads 155-49
VU won 80-73 on March 10, 2023
Georgia
16-16
—
157
-/-
154
UK leads 131-28
UGA won 75-68 on Feb. 11, 2023
Missouri
25-10
NCAA Second Round
47
23/-
57
UK leads 14-3
MU won 89-75 on Dec. 28, 2022
Ole Miss
12-21
—
129
-/-
122
UK leads 110-14
UK won 75-66 on Jan. 31, 2023
LSU
14-19
—
153
-/-
151
UK leads 93-28
UK won 74-71 on Jan. 3, 2023
South Carolina
11-21
—
235
-/-
221
UK leads 54-14
USC won 71-68 on Jan. 10, 2023
Winner of the 2023 GLOBL JAM, Kentucky boasts the nation’s No. 1 recruiting class with seven first-year signees including five top-25 prospects in Aaron Bradshaw, Rob Dillingham, Justin Edwards, Reed Sheppard and D.J. Wagner. Jordan Burks, who led OTE in points per game, and Joey Hart, who captured a state high school crown, were spring additions, while Zvonimir Ivišić, a native of Croatia, was added earlier this month.
Additionally, Kentucky signed one of the top graduate transfers in Tre Mitchell, who has played in 102 career games, making 92 starts, and has scored more than 1,390 career points.
The Cats will also return Antonio Reeves, who averaged 14.4 points per game a season ago and was named the SEC’s Sixth Man of the Year. Sophomores Ugonna Onyenso and Adou Thiero also return. Onyenso had a per-40-minute average of 5.7 blocks per game, while Thiero played nearly 10 minutes a game and was a spark off the bench.
