UK women’s basketball draws ACC/SEC Challenge foe with top-10 recruiting class
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Kentucky will play Miami on Dec. 3 in the 2025 ACC/SEC Women's Challenge.
- Miami adds top-10 recruiting class and key transfers in coach Tricia Cullop’s second year.
- Kentucky returns three starters and adds high-profile transfers and a five-star freshman.
This year’s ACC/SEC Challenge will send Kentucky to the Sunshine State.
The Miami Hurricanes are set to host the Wildcats on Wednesday, Dec. 3 as part of the third-annual cross-conference event, Big Blue Nation learned Thursday.
Kentucky and Kenny Brooks will face off against Miami and head coach Tricia Cullop, who enters her second season in Coral Gables after 16 years leading Toledo. The Hurricanes finished last season with 14-15 (4-14 ACC), and ended their year upon the conclusion of regular-season play due to failing to qualify for the 2025 ACC Tournament.
Miami brings in what ESPN deemed a top-10 recruiting class in its May rankings, as the Hurricanes checked in at No. 10 thanks to four signees ranked within the top 100 — guards Camille Williams (No. 36), Danielle Osho (No. 54) and Meredith Tippner (No. 91) and forward Natalie Wetzel (No. 80) — and four-star wing Emanuella Okolo.
Cullop has also signed a respectable transfer class comprised of Vittoria Blasigh (USF), Mya Kone (FIU), Candace Kpetikou (Washington State), Ra Shaya Kyle (Florida), Jessica Peterson (SMU), Amarachi Kimpson (UNLV) and Gal Raviv (Quinnipiac), the latter two of whom led their previous programs in scoring last season.
Miami made program history with an Elite Eight berth in the 2023 NCAA Tournament, and followed the monumental season by going 19-12 (8-10 ACC) in 2023-24. Longtime head coach Katie Meier, who led Miami for 19 seasons and remains the all-time winningest coach in Hurricanes basketball history regardless of gender, announced her retirement in March 2024. Cullop’s hiring was announced in April 2024.
Kentucky, which assembled a 23-8 (11-5 SEC) campaign last season and reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2021, will return a trio of starters in Clara Strack, the reigning SEC Defensive Player of the Year and All-SEC Second Teamer, Teonni Key, a 6-foot-4 playmaker, and Amelia Hassett, a defense-forward hustle player.
UK will also welcome five-star freshman Kaelyn Carroll and transfer guards Tonie Morgan (Georgia Tech), Josie Gilvin (Western Kentucky) and Asia Boone (Liberty) to the fold, plus debut 2024 transfers Jordan Obi and Dominika Paurová, both of whom sat out last season due to injury.
The Dec. 3 challenge marks the reveal of the eighth nonconference opponent for Brooks’ second season in Lexington. The Wildcats will open their 2025-26 season with a home matchup against Morehead State before playing Monmouth (Nov. 6), at Buffalo (Nov. 9), Central Michigan (Dec. 7), at Belmont (Dec. 14), Wright State (Dec. 19) and Hofstra (Dec. 28). UK is also expected to play at Louisville in their regularly scheduled rivalry game on a to-be-announced date.
2025 Women’s ACC/SEC Challenge schedule
Wednesday, Dec. 3
Kentucky at Miami
Tennessee at Stanford
North Carolina State at Oklahoma
Georgia at Florida State
Auburn at Syracuse
Georgia Tech at Texas A&M
Virginia at Vanderbilt
Thursday, Dec. 4
LSU at Duke
South Carolina at Louisville
Florida at Virginia Tech
Notre Dame at Ole Miss
North Carolina at Texas
Clemson at Alabama
Arkansas at SMU
Pittsburgh at Mississippi State
California at Missouri
2025-26 UK women’s basketball schedule
Games confirmed to this point (home games in all capital letters):
Nov. 3: MOREHEAD STATE
Nov. 6: MONMOUTH
Nov. 9: At Buffalo
Dec. 3: At Miami (Fla.)-x
Dec. 7: CENTRAL MICHIGAN
Dec. 14: At Belmont
Dec. 19: WRIGHT STATE
Dec. 28: HOFSTRA
x-ACC/SEC Challenge
