LEXINGTON, Ky. – August 24, 2023
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.