UK basketball announces another marquee opponent for its exhibition schedule
Mark Pope and the Kentucky basketball program will be hosting a second marquee opponent for an exhibition contest at Rupp Arena prior to the official start of the 2025-26 season.
On Wednesday afternoon, UK announced that Georgetown University — a Big East Conference member — will be coming to Lexington for an exhibition game on Oct. 30.
This is the second exhibition contest on the schedule for Kentucky this fall, along with another home date against Purdue on Oct. 24.
A game time and television designation for the Wildcats’ exhibition contest against the Hoyas will be announced at a later date.
Last season, Georgetown went 18-16 overall and 8-13 against Big East opponents. This was the second season of the Ed Cooley coaching era for the Hoyas, who last made the NCAA Tournament in 2021 after a surprise run to the Big East Tournament title that year, while under the direction of former coach and program legend Patrick Ewing.
Rising junior guard Malik Mack, who averaged 12.9 points per game and shot 35.5% from 3-point range last season, is a player to watch for Georgetown next season. Forward Thomas Sorber — 14.5 points, 8.5 rebounds and 2.0 blocks per game as a freshman last season with the Hoyas — won’t be coming back to school and is expected to be a first-round selection in this summer’s NBA draft.
Former UK basketball player Jordan Burks, who spent the 2023-24 season at Kentucky and played in 20 games off the bench that season for the Wildcats, was part of Georgetown’s team last season. But Burks transferred this offseason to Central Florida.
News of the exhibition contest between Kentucky and Georgetown comes after an NCAA rule change was approved earlier this year to allow teams to schedule Division I opponents for regular exhibition games. In previous years, a matchup like this — as well as the UK vs. Purdue contest — would have necessitated a special waiver from the NCAA and included a provision that all game proceeds be donated to charity.
What do we know about Kentucky basketball’s 2025-26 schedule?
The exhibition contest between Kentucky and Georgetown is the latest piece of the scheduling puzzle to fall into place for the Wildcats for the 2025-26 season.
Several high-major foes are already on UK’s slate, and not just during the exhibition season.
The first major game of the regular season for Kentucky will be the annual rivalry matchup against Louisville, which is set for the extremely early-season date of Nov. 11 in Louisville at the Yum Center.
After that, Kentucky will face Michigan State on Nov. 18 in the annual Champions Classic matchup at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
Kentucky will also have a game against Gonzaga on Dec. 5 in Nashville. The UK-Indiana rivalry is also set to resume this year, with the Hoosiers coming to Rupp Arena on Dec. 13. The following week will then bring perhaps the Cats’ toughest test of the season: Kentucky will play St. John’s on Dec. 20 in Atlanta as part of a revamped CBS Sports Classic lineup.
That game will feature Pope coaching against Rick Pitino, who led UK to the 1996 national championship before later leading Louisville’s program for 16 years.
The Wildcats will also be part of the ACC/SEC Challenge for a third consecutive year, and they’re likely to end up with a marquee opponent in that showcase. The matchups and locations for that event have not yet been announced, but UK is expected to get hosting rights in Rupp Arena for the event after traveling to Clemson last season. With no games against Duke or North Carolina elsewhere on the schedule, the ACC/SEC Challenge organizers could pit one of those blue-blood programs against the Wildcats.
Kentucky is also guaranteed a difficult, 18-game schedule in the SEC, which put a record 14 teams in the NCAA Tournament earlier this year.
What do we know about Kentucky basketball’s 2025-26 roster?
Currently, there are 14 players in place for Kentucky’s roster for next season.
This group includes four projected returnees from last season’s UK team. Those players are freshmen guard Collin Chandler, freshman forward Trent Noah, sophomore center Brandon Garrison and junior guard Otega Oweh.
Oweh declared for the 2025 NBA draft and is going through the draft process. This included participating in the NBA Combine and conducting interviews and workouts with NBA teams. College players like Oweh have until 11:59 p.m. EDT on May 28 to pull out of the draft and retain their NCAA eligibility.
UK lost two scholarship players with remaining eligibility to the transfer portal from the 2024-25 roster, guards Kerr Kriisa (Cincinnati) and Travis Perry (Ole Miss).
Along with Kentucky’s four expected returnees, UK has brought in six college players via the transfer portal. Those players are junior guard Denzel Aberdeen (Florida), sophomore forward Mouhamed Dioubate (Alabama), sophomore guard Jaland Lowe (Pittsburgh), sophomore center Reece Potter (Miami), freshman big man Jayden Quaintance (Arizona State) and freshman wing Kam Williams (Tulane).
Additionally, UK will be bringing in four first-year players next season. Those players are 6-foot-11 Croatian big man Andrija Jelavic, guard Jasper Johnson, small forward Braydon Hawthorne and in-state center Malachi Moreno. Hawthorne, Johnson and Moreno are all arriving via the traditional high school recruiting pathway, while Jelavic has previous professional playing experience in Europe.
Johnson is a left-handed guard and the No. 21 national recruit in the 2025 class, according to the 247Sports Composite. Hawthorne is a late-blooming recruit who is ranked as a four-star prospect by the 247Sports Composite. Moreno was a McDonald’s All-American and Sweet 16 state champion earlier this year.
Former high school recruit and UK signee Acaden Lewis, a guard, decommitted from Kentucky this spring and will instead be playing next season at Villanova.
This story was originally published May 21, 2025 at 1:36 PM.
