The Kentucky menâs basketball team has set its 2023-24 nonconference schedule, head coach John Calipari announced Thursday. The 13-game nonconference schedule includes nine home contests at Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center, an away tilt at in-state foe Louisville and three neutral-site matchups.
You can view the current schedule here.
The Southeastern Conference slate, along with television networks and game times will be announced at a later date.
After a pair of to-be-determined exhibition contests, the Cats open the home schedule against New Mexico State on Nov. 6, travel to Chicago for a State Farm Champions Classic matchup against Kansas on Nov. 14 and wrap up the month with an ACC/SEC Challenge contest against Miami on Nov. 28. Kentucky squares off with North Carolina in the CBS Sports Classic on Dec. 16 in Atlanta, travels to Louisville on Dec. 21 and hosts Gonzaga on Feb. 10.
Along with those matchups, the Cats face Texas A&M University-Commerce (Nov. 10), Stonehill (Nov. 17) and Saint Josephâs (Nov. 20) in the three-game Wildcat Challenge presented by Kentucky Tourism. UK also has home contests against Marshall (Nov. 24), UNC-Wilmington (Dec. 2) and Illinois State (Dec. 29) along with a matchup against Penn at Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia on Dec. 9.
In SEC play, the Cats will take on permanent home-and-away opponents Florida, Tennessee and Vanderbilt along with playing Arkansas and Mississippi State twice in the regular season. Along with those five teams, Kentucky will host Alabama, Georgia, Ole Miss and Missouri and travel to Auburn, LSU, South Carolina and Texas A&M.
In all, the Wildcats will face 10 teams who reached the 2022-23 NCAA Tournament a total of 13 times this season. Kentucky will take on five Sweet Sixteen teams from a year ago.
| Opponent | 2022-23 Record | Postseason | Final NET Ranking | Final Ranking (AP/Coaches) | KenPom.com Final Ranking | Series History | Last Meeting |
| New Mexico State | 9-15 | — | 191 | -/- | 187 | UK leads 1-0 | UK won 82-60 on March 12, 1999 |
| Texas A&M-Commerce | 13-20 | — | 306 | -/- | 307 | Never met | First meeting |
| Kansas | 28-8 | NCAA Second Round | 9 | 4/11 | 9 | UK leads 24-11 | KU won 77-68 on Jan. 28, 2023 |
| Stonehill | 14-17 | — | 310 | -/- | 331 | Never met | First meeting |
| Saint Josephâs | 16-17 | — | 201 | -/- | 191 | UK leads 2-0 | UK won 102-72 on March 20, 1997 |
| Marshall | 24-8 | — | 83 | -/- | 83 | UK leads 12-0 | UK won 82-54 on Dec. 22, 2012 |
| Miami | 29-8 | NCAA Final Four | 21 | 16/3 | 24 | UK leads 3-1 | UofM won 73-67 on Dec. 6, 2008 |
| UNC-Wilmington | 24-10 | — | 141 | -/- | 152 | Never met | First meeting |
| Penn | 17-13 | — | 138 | -/- | 126 | UK leads 5-0 | UK won 86-62 on Jan. 3, 2011 |
| North Carolina | 20-13 | — | 44 | -/- | 43 | UNC leads 25-17 | UK won 98-69 on Dec. 17, 2021 |
| Louisville | 4-28 | — | 314 | -/- | 290 | UK leads 38-17 | UK won 86-63 on Dec. 31, 2022 |
| Illinois State | 11-21 | — | 283 | -/- | 289 | UK leads 1-0 | UK won 75-63 on Nov. 30, 2015 |
| Gonzaga | 31-6 | NCAA Elite Eight | 8 | 9/10 | 8 | Series is tied 1-1 | GU won 88-71 on Nov. 20, 2022 |
| Tennessee | 25-11 | NCAA Sweet 16 | 5 | 20/16 | 6 | UK leads 160-77 | UK won 66-54 on Feb. 18, 2023 |
| Arkansas | 22-14 | NCAA Sweet 16 | 20 | -/21 | 22 | UK leads 34-14 | UK won 88-79 on March 4, 2023 |
| Alabama | 31-6 | NCAA Sweet 16 | 2 | 1/4 | 4 | UK leads 116-41 | UA won 78-52 on Jan. 7, 2023 |
| Texas A&M | 25-10 | NCAA First Round | 28 | 17/25 | 33 | UK leads 13-4 | UK won 76-67 on Jan. 21, 2023 |
| Mississippi State | 21-13 | NCAA First Four | 53 | -/- | 53 | UK leads 101-21 | UK won 71-68 on Feb. 15, 2023 |
| Auburn | 21-13 | NCAA Second Round | 35 | -/- | 32 | UK leads 97-23 | UK won 86-54 on Feb. 25, 2023 |
| Florida | 16-17 | NIT First Round | 73 | -/- | 74 | UK leads 109-41 | UK won 82-74 on Feb. 22, 2023 |
| Vanderbilt | 22-15 | NIT Third Round | 81 | -/- | 81 | UK leads 155-49 | VU won 80-73 on March 10, 2023 |
| Georgia | 16-16 | — | 157 | -/- | 154 | UK leads 131-28 | UGA won 75-68 on Feb. 11, 2023 |
| Missouri | 25-10 | NCAA Second Round | 47 | 23/- | 57 | UK leads 14-3 | MU won 89-75 on Dec. 28, 2022 |
| Ole Miss | 12-21 | — | 129 | -/- | 122 | UK leads 110-14 | UK won 75-66 on Jan. 31, 2023 |
| LSU | 14-19 | — | 153 | -/- | 151 | UK leads 93-28 | UK won 74-71 on Jan. 3, 2023 |
| South Carolina | 11-21 | — | 235 | -/- | 221 | UK leads 54-14 | USC won 71-68 on Jan. 10, 2023 |
Walter Cornett, of Glendale, Kentucky, is the owner and operator of Walterâs Wildcat World. He founded WildcatWorld.com in 1998 making it one of the oldest Kentucky basketball fan sites in operation today.