Seven games added to the UK men’s basketball schedule, including a familiar foe
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Kentucky added seven home nonconference games at Rupp Arena for 2026-27.
- James Madison, coached by Preston Spradlin, plays Kentucky on Nov. 6.
- Kentucky has 12 nonconference games set and two nonconference slots left.
A sizable portion of the Kentucky men’s basketball schedule for the 2026-27 season has been revealed.
UK announced seven new games for the upcoming season Monday morning, a group of matchups that will account for half of the Cats’ nonconference slate. All of the latest additions to the schedule will be played in Rupp Arena.
Those home games will feature Kentucky facing Manhattan (Nov. 3), James Madison (Nov. 6), Northern Arizona (Nov. 13), Grambling State (Nov. 16), Bryant (Dec. 8), Sacred Heart (Dec. 22) and Gardner-Webb (Dec. 28).
James Madison should be the toughest opponent on that list, as well as the most intriguing foe for Mark Pope’s team.
The Dukes are entering their third season under head coach Preston Spradlin, who served on John Calipari’s support staff at Kentucky for five seasons before leaving Lexington for a job on Sean Woods’ staff at Morehead State.
Spradlin, a Pikeville native and graduate of Betsy Layne High School, later became the head coach at Morehead from 2016 to 2024 and led the Eagles to two NCAA Tournament appearances and three OVC regular season championships before landing the James Madison job.
The Dukes finished in a tie for first place in the Sun Belt regular season standings during Spradlin’s first season, and he has a 38-27 overall record at James Madison. He replaced head coach Mark Byington, who is entering his third season as the head coach at Vanderbilt.
Spradlin coached against UK twice during his tenure at Morehead State, first in a 2017 exhibition game to aid tornado relief efforts in Kentucky and again in the 2020-21 regular season opener, the first game in Rupp Arena following the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The early Torvik ratings for the 2026-27 season have James Madison at No. 145 nationally and first among Sun Belt teams. The Dukes’ No. 2 scorer and rebounder from last season, Justin McBride, committed to Kentucky out of the transfer portal this spring and is expected to be a key rotation player in the Cats’ frontcourt next season.
James Madison was also one of the first professional stops for J Batt, who was officially hired as UK’s new athletic director Monday morning. Batt, who was most recently the athletic director at Michigan State, worked in the James Madison athletics department from 2007 to 2009.
The other six additions to the schedule Monday are not as well regarded.
Sacred Heart is No. 295 nationally in the early Torvik ratings, and none of the others cracked the top 300 on the preseason list.
Despite the lack of pop in Monday’s announcement, UK is expected to play one of the most difficult schedules in the country again next season.
The Cats had already finalized five other nonconference games, and all of those matchups will come against teams that are included in at least one of the most recent Top 25 lists from ESPN and CBS Sports. Four of those games will take place away from home.
Kentucky is set to play Kansas (Nov. 10 in Chicago), Indiana (Nov. 20 in Indianapolis), Virginia (Dec. 2 in Charlottesville), Louisville (Dec. 12 in Rupp Arena) and North Carolina (Dec. 19 in New York).
The Cats are also awaiting final word on their SEC opponents for the 2026-27 season, and that announcement could come later this week. The latest ESPN Top 25 list has Kentucky at No. 17 and features seven other SEC teams: No. 1 Florida, No. 6 Tennessee, No. 9 Texas, No. 11 Arkansas, No. 15 Alabama, No. 19 Vanderbilt and No. 21 Missouri.
UK will play Tennessee and Vanderbilt (its “permanent” opponents) and one other team twice during the 2026-27 season. So the Cats could play as many as 10 league games against teams ranked in the ESPN preseason Top 25.
Kentucky has finished top five nationally in strength of schedule in each of Pope’s first two seasons in charge of the program, according to the KenPom ratings, which had the Cats playing the No. 3 most difficult slate during the 2024-25 campaign and placed them No. 4 last season. Alabama is the only other school to finish in the top five in that category in each of the past two years.
With 12 nonconference games now set, Kentucky has two spots left to fill on its 2026-27 schedule, which will feature 32 total games. Changes to NCAA guidelines will take effect this season to allow teams to play 32 regular season games and three exhibitions, an increase of one game in each category.
UK, which began its eight-week summer practice session Monday, has not yet announced any of its exhibition games for next season. All three are expected to take place in Rupp Arena.
