How to buy tickets for Kentucky basketball’s 2026 NCAA tournament opener
Kentucky basketball fans hoping to make the annual trek to follow the Cats in the NCAA Tournament will not have to travel far for the first weekend.
No. 7 seed Kentucky opens the tournament Friday against No. 10 seed Santa Clara in Saint Louis at 12:15 p.m. ET. The proximity to Kentucky and presence of other nearby teams in the pod means demand is likely to be high.
Six other teams will play in Saint Louis. If Kentucky wins its opener, it will face the winner of No. 2 seed Iowa State and No. 15 seed Tennessee State on Sunday. Four teams from the West region (No. 2 seed Purdue, No. 15 seed Queens, No. 7 seed Miami and No. 10 seed Missouri) will also play in Saint Louis.
Games will be played at the Enterprise Center, the normal home of the NHL’s Saint Louis Blues. Capacity for the arena is 22,000.
Tickets can be purchased through Ticketmaster at NCAA.com/MBBTickets. Tickets packages can be purchased by the session or for the entire weekend. Each session includes two games.
Kentucky plays in session one on Friday.
Kentucky K Fund donors who requested access to UK’s allotment of postseason tickets will be notified Monday if their request was fulfilled. There are no student tickets available for the first weekend of the tournament.