Kentucky basketball gets new dates for 2025-26 schedule, including season opener

The University of Kentucky men’s basketball schedule for the 2025-26 season is now complete.

Or all 31 games for the regular season are set, at least.

While tip times and TV information remain TBA for most of the Wildcats’ schedule — and some specific dates for SEC play are still up in the air — UK officially announced three more opponents for the upcoming season Monday afternoon, filling the only holes left on the slate.

Kentucky will host Nicholls State in the regular-season opener Nov. 4, followed by games against Valparaiso on Nov. 7 and Eastern Illinois on Nov. 14.

Those three games will be part of the Wildcats’ “multi-team event” for this season, and the trio of Rupp Arena dates will be called the BBN United Tipoff Classic, named after the collective-like “BBN United” subscription service that UK announced last week.

Ten other nonconference games had already been confirmed for UK’s schedule, with the annual rivalry game against Louisville set for an earlier-than-usual date — Nov. 11 in the Yum Center — and games against Michigan State (Nov. 18 in New York), North Carolina (Dec. 2 in Rupp), Gonzaga (Dec. 5 in Nashville), Indiana (Dec. 13 in Rupp) and St. John’s (Dec. 20 in Atlanta) filling the other marquee slots.

UK will also play home games against Loyola (Maryland) on Nov. 21, Tennessee Tech on Nov. 26, North Carolina Central on Dec. 9 and Bellarmine on Dec. 23.

After the Bellarmine game, the Cats will get a week-and-a-half break before starting SEC play on Jan. 3 with a road trip to Alabama for the league opener. Kentucky will then play its first conference games in Rupp Arena against Missouri (on either Jan. 6 or 7) and Mississippi State (Jan. 10).

Several of the Cats’ midweek SEC dates — like the aforementioned Mizzou game — have not been assigned a Tuesday or Wednesday slot yet. UK will end the league slate against defending national champion Florida, the SEC preseason favorite, in Rupp on March 7.

Kentucky will also play Purdue, a candidate to be the No. 1 preseason team in college basketball, and Georgetown University in exhibition games at Rupp Arena on Oct. 24 and Oct. 30, respectively.

While the final three additions to the Wildcats’ schedule won’t generate any national buzz, this is looking like another difficult road for Mark Pope’s team. In his first season as UK’s head coach, the Cats played the nation’s third-toughest schedule — behind only SEC rivals Alabama and Auburn — according to the KenPom ratings.

Kentucky’s 2025-26 schedule features 11 regular-season games against teams ranked in ESPN’s early Top 25, including two games against No. 2 Florida, the neutral-site contest with No. 5 St. John’s and an early road game against No. 7 Louisville. (UK is No. 9 in those ESPN rankings.)

New additions to UK basketball schedule

The BBN United Tipoff Classic has been named to raise awareness for UK’s new department-wide subscription service — university athletics officials are not calling it a “collective” — that will offer fans access to exclusive content, special merchandise and events featuring UK legends in exchange for fees that will be used to compensate current athletes under the NCAA’s new revenue-sharing structure.

The games that actually make up UK’s multi-team event will all come against mid-major competition.

Eastern Illinois finished 8-12 in the OVC and 12-19 overall last season, with lopsided losses to Illinois (112-67) and Indiana (90-55) in early November. The Panthers, entering their fifth season under coach Marty Simmons, have had a winning record just once in the past 10 years.

Nicholls State is entering its third season under Tevon Saddler, who accepted the job at his alma mater at just 28 years old — the youngest Division I head coach in the country — and has led the Colonels to two winning seasons so far. They were third in the Southland Conference last season with a 13-7 league record and 20-13 overall mark.

Valparaiso finished 11th in the 12-team Missouri Valley Conference last season with a 6-14 league mark and a 15-19 overall record. Roger Powell Jr. is entering his third season as head coach of the Beacons, who have not had a winning record in their conference since 2017.

This story was originally published August 11, 2025 at 1:19 PM.

Ben Roberts

Lexington Herald-Leader

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Ben Roberts is the University of Kentucky men’s basketball beat writer for the Lexington Herald-Leader. He has previously specialized in UK basketball recruiting coverage and created and maintained the Next Cats blog. He is a Franklin County native and first joined the Herald-Leader in 2006. Support my work with a digital subscription