Kentucky women’s basketball to face NCAA Tournament teams in foreign event
The Kentucky women’s basketball team has the first pieces of its 2022-23 schedule in place.
On Thursday, UK announced it would be traveling to the Bahamas for a pair of non-conference games during Thanksgiving week.
UK will play Virginia Tech on Nov. 21 and Dayton on Nov. 23.
Both games will be broadcast on FloHoops.com as part of the eight-team Baha Mar Pink Flamingo Championship, which will be held at the Baha Mar Convention, Arts and Entertainment Center in Nassau, the Bahamas.
Virginia Tech went 23-10 last season, but lost in the first round of the NCAA Tournament as a No. 5 seed.
Dayton went 26-6 last season and won a First Four game in the NCAA Tournament against DePaul, before losing as a No. 11 seed in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
The trip will mark the first time the UK women’s basketball team travels outside the continental U.S. since 2018, when the Cats won the Paradise Jam in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
This year’s overseas trip will serve as an important bonding moment for a new-look UK women’s team.
The Wildcats roster features just five returning players (guards Robyn Benton, Blair Green, Emma King and Jada Walker and forward Nyah Leveretter) along with 10 newcomers.
Of the newcomers, six are freshmen and four are transfers from other Division I programs, including guard Maddie Scherr, a former Miss Kentucky Basketball from Ryle High School who previously played at Oregon.
Both UK basketball teams headed to Bahamas
With the announcement that the UK women’s team will travel to the Bahamas, it means both UK basketball squads will be making a trip to the West Indies country in upcoming months.
The UK men’s basketball team will play four games from Aug. 10-14, also at the Baha Mar Convention Center.
Kentucky will play the Dominican Republic National Select Team on Aug. 10, Tec de Monterey (Mexico) on Aug. 11, Carleton University (Canada) on Aug. 13 and the Bahamas National Team on Aug. 14.
Each of those four games will be broadcast by ESPN Networks.
This marks the third preseason trip for the Kentucky men’s basketball team to the island nation southeast of Florida.
