Indiana series will give UK a new chance to end its Indianapolis misery at last
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- The 2026-27 UK-IU game moved from Dec. 27 to Nov. 20 at Lucas Oil Stadium.
- Kentucky seeks to end a recent five-game losing stretch in Indianapolis.
- Current UK-IU four-game contract leaves two scheduled games after 2026-27.
We learned Tuesday morning that the 2026-27 Kentucky-Indiana men’s basketball game, originally slated to be played in Indianapolis on Dec. 27, will instead take place Nov. 20 at Lucas Oil Stadium.
What will be fascinating about the second game in the renewed series between border rivals UK and IU is whether Mark Pope’s Cats can use the contest to flip the rotten karma in Indy that has lately engulfed the Cats.
When UK faces IU this fall in the stadium that normally houses the NFL’s Indianapolis Colts, Kentucky will be seeking to reverse what has become a vexing, five-game stretch in Indy:
• A 118-84 strafing administered by Duke in the 2018-19 Champions Classic at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
• A 65-62 loss to Kansas in the 2020-21 Champions Classic at Gainbridge.
• A stunning 85-79 overtime loss to No. 15 seed Saint Peter’s in the 2022 NCAA Tournament round of 64 at Gainbridge.
• An 86-77 double-overtime loss to Michigan State in the 2022-23 Champions Classic, also at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
• A 78-65 loss to border rival Tennessee in the 2025 NCAA Tournament round of 16 at Lucas Oil Stadium.
If that is not enough Indianapolis pain for Kentucky backers, it was in Indy where UK’s 38-0 team saw its bid for an undefeated NCAA championship end with a 71-64 loss to Wisconsin in the 2015 Final Four and where the Wildcats’ bid for back-to-back national titles ended with an 84-79 overtime loss to Arizona in the 1997 NCAA championship game.
Put simply, Indianapolis has recently been where Kentucky men’s basketball dreams go to die.
That has not always been UK’s reality in Indy.
All-time, Kentucky is 16-13 in games played in Indianapolis.
In NCAA Tournament contests played in Indy, UK is 7-4, though the Cats are 2-3 in such games starting with the crushing defeat to Wisconsin in the 2015 Final Four.
As you will see below, within the context of the Kentucky-Indiana rivalry, Indianapolis has, on net, been a plus venue for UK.
Way back in the 1970s and 80s, the border rivalry between Kentucky and Indiana crackled with a white-hot intensity.
The rivalry reached its peak in 1974-75, when UK and IU met twice in memorable contests.
In a December meeting in Bloomington, Indiana smoked Kentucky 98-74 in a game remembered for IU coach Bobby Knight cuffing UK coach Joe B. Hall in the back of the head after the two coaches had engaged in a verbal exchange late in the contest.
Hall and the Wildcats got their revenge that same season, spoiling Indiana’s bid for an undefeated season with a 92-90 upset of the No. 1 Hoosiers in the 1975 NCAA Tournament round of eight in Dayton, Ohio.
Alas, once the Knight coaching regime self-destructed in 2000, the UK-IU series lost much of its identity and a good bit of its fire.
Eventually, the two schools stopped playing, bickering over a scheduling impasse about whether the series should be played on neutral courts (the preferred Kentucky position) or home-and-home (Indiana’s stance).
So UK and IU, once the participants in the hottest non-league rivalry in men’s college hoops, did not meet during the regular season from 2012-13 through 2024-25.
Last season, the series finally relaunched, with Kentucky scoring a 72-60 victory over first-year coach Darian DeVries and the Hoosiers on Dec. 13 at Rupp Arena.
Overall, the Wildcats lead the all-time series with the Hoosiers 33-25.
UK is 11-3 against IU in games played in Lexington. The Cats are 9-4 vs. Indiana in contests played in Louisville.
In games played at neutral sites located in neither the state of Indiana nor the commonwealth of Kentucky, the Wildcats have gone 3-3 against the Hoosiers.
When the games have been played in Bloomington, Kentucky is 4-11 against IU.
However, in Indianapolis, UK holds a 6-4 edge head-to-head vs. Indiana.
The current four-game contract between UK and Indiana has two contests remaining after 2026-27. The teams are scheduled to return to Rupp Arena to play in 2027-28 and then face off in Bloomington in 2028-29.
What will happen with the UK-IU series after the current pact expires is to be determined.
Both Kentucky and Indiana were reported last week by CBSSports.com’s Matt Norlander to be among the traditional men’s hoops powers in talks to join the “Diamond Cup,” a proposed eight-team, pool-play event which is envisioned as becoming a marquee event for men’s college hoops in the early season.
Arizona, Connecticut, Gonzaga, Kansas, Michigan and North Carolina were the other six teams linked with the event.
If both UK and IU join the Diamond Cup, would the two border rivals be able to continue their just-resumed annual series?
That is unclear.
So if Kentucky is going use IU to get off the schneid in Indianapolis, it behooves the Wildcats to get that done in this coming season.
