We’re months and months away from the ball being tipped to start the 2026-27 Kentucky Basketball season, but year three of the Mark Pope era has a ton on the line, and a difficult but fun journey ahead. The matchup Kentucky had rolling with Gonzaga year after year has now been canceled, but there are still plenty of high-profile matchups in the non-conference season.
In May, we learned that the Indiana series will now be moved up by over a month from its previous schedule. Once slotted to be played on December 27, now been moved up to November 20 and will be played at the Colts’ stadium, Lucas Oil Stadium, in Indianapolis. This will be year two of the resurgence of the Kentucky-Indiana rivalry, after Kentucky won in Rupp Arena last year, 72-60. Kentucky leads the all-time series of the Hoosiers, 32-25.
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North Carolina, among some others, will be a part of the revenge tour during the 2026-27 basketball season for Kentucky. The Tar Heels came to Lexington and beat Kentucky, 67-64. Now, the Wildcats will travel up to Madison Square Garden in New York City to try to make up for last year’s loss. This game will be part of the annual CBS Sports Classic and will be the second game in the event at 2:30 p.m. on December 19.
The second of the two annual events Kentucky has played in for some time is the State Farm Champions Classic. This event will feature a matchup against the Kansas Jayhawks and will be played in Chicago at the United Center on November 10.
This year’s matchup will be a significant one for a couple of reasons. Remember the name, Tyran Stokes? Of course, you do; you may have even been a little annoyed with the name by the end of the long, strenuous recruitment for him. The No. 1 player in the 2026 high school class will be leading the charge for the Jayhawks under Coach Bill Self.
Another reason the game has a lot on the line is the all-time wins race in college basketball. Kentucky is in first, but not by a wide margin, and Kansas is the team in second, trailing by only six wins. No pressure with this matchup, right?
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Kentucky’s annual rivalry with the team down I-64, the Louisville Cardinals, will be back in Rupp Arena. Last year, one of the biggest takeaways from the loss to the Cardinals was something both sides agreed on: The game should be moved back. The rivalry was, for a long while, played in late December around the holidays. That wasn’t the case last year, as the game was played on November 11.
Nonetheless, the matchup will be important, as it always is. Pope is heading into year three and has added pressure because of the coach down the street, who was hired in the same offseason. The two coaches have now played twice since their hirings, and the series has been split.
Kentucky won year one, 93-85, and Louisville won last year, 96-88. Ironically, the two teams have scored the exact same number of points over the two years: 181 combined. This year, even though Kentucky doesn’t have a completely set-in-stone roster, with the 15th spot still open, we have an idea of what the team will look like. Louisville, on the other hand, has been the offseason darlings for some, and has spent money and loaded up on talent. Last year, did not go as planned, but Mark Pope and this staff could right some of their wrongs with another victory over Louisville this year.
The annual ACC-SEC challenge has brought us a few fun matchups since the event began, but the matchup hasn’t been too kind to Mark Pope. In his two years, Kentucky is 0-2 in the event, falling at Clemson his first year, and at home against North Carolina last season. This year, Kentucky will play in Charlottesville, VA, against the Virginia Cavaliers. This matchup will take place on December 2 at John Paul Jones Arena.
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Many remember Virginia under Tony Bennett’s coaching, but they are far from the same now. Bennett was an unbelievable coach and even led the Cavaliers to an NCAA Tournament Championship, but he was known for playing slow, methodical offense and strong team defense.
Now, under head coach Ryan Odom, they play a little differently than they did then, averaging 80.4 points per game last season. In what was year one of Coach Odom’s tenure in Charlottesville, Virginia, went 30-6 overall and 15-3 in the ACC, ending their season with a loss to the Tennessee Volunteers in the round of 32.
Virginia leads the ACC in returning scoring from last season, returning 57.4% of its scoring from last year. Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports has the Virginia Cavaliers ranked No. 9 heading into next year, so Kentucky will have its hands full.
As for the rest of the non-conference schedule, Kentucky has a few notable teams, but most are just “tune-up” games. As for those games, the teams listed below will play at Rupp Arena:
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Manhattan on Tuesday, November 3
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James Madison on Friday, November 6
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Northern Arizona on Friday, November 13
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Grambling State on Monday, November 16
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Bryant on Tuesday, December 8
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Sacred Heart on Tuesday, December 22
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Gardner-Webb on December 28
A couple of takeaways from that list of games are that two of those matchups have fun meaning behind them. Not sure if this is why, but Kentucky has an opportunity to tie up a series, which doesn’t usually happen.
When Gardner-Webb comes to Rupp Arena this winter, it will be the second time Kentucky has ever faced off against them. The two faced off on November 7, 2007, when the head coach of Kentucky was none other than Billy Gillespie. This game was part of the 2K Sports College Hoops Classic, and it has been remembered as one of Kentucky’s worst losses in program history. Time to get our lick back.
Another takeaway is that James Madison brings us former Dukes student and head coach Kenny Brooks, as well as current Kentucky Wildcat Justin McBride. Also, Kentuckian Preston Spradlin is their HC and started his career as a GA at Kentucky. A few fun things are going along with that matchup, as Kentucky will play James Madison for the first time in program history.
Below are the marquee non-conference matchups the Wildcats will face in the 2026-27 season.
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vs. Kansas in Chicago (Champions Classic) on Tuesday, November 10
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Neutral site vs Indiana in Indianapolis, Indiana, on Friday, November 20
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at Virginia (SEC/ACC challenge) in Charlottesville, Virginia, on December 2
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vs. Louisville in Rupp Arena on December 12
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Neutral site vs. North Carolina in New York (CBS Sports Classic) on Saturday, December 19
As for the conference schedule, Kentucky got a pretty good deal with how the SEC schedule worked out. Here is a list of the home slate vs. the road slate, including the teams that Kentucky will face twice.
Only Home: Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, LSU, South Carolina, and Texas A&M
Only Away: Florida, Georgia, Mississippi State, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Texas
Both Home and Away: Ole Miss, Tennessee, and Vanderbilt
It’s certainly a little bit different playing Ole Miss twice this season, when it’s usually a team like Florida. Kentucky will travel to Florida and Texas, two teams Jon Rothstein, among others, believes are the best in the entire conference.
Florida is thriving off retention, and will have a few faces that BBN will recognize very well, while Texas did incredibly well in the transfer portal and retained some very important pieces as well.
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Another takeaway for me was that Kentucky will, for the third straight year since his departure, play John Calipari just once. The Arkansas Razorbacks will travel to Rupp Arena and play Kentucky without a return from the Wildcats, which feels like a missed opportunity.
The SEC looks very strong at the top of the league, but it may lack some of the depth it has in most years, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing for Kentucky in a very pivotal season.
Overall, I listed 30 games, 12 non-conference, and 18 conference, meaning the schedule isn’t completely done. For quite some time, teams have played 31-game schedules, but now, for the first time in history, teams CAN play 32 games in the regular season. The 2026-27 season will be the first we see of this.
Kentucky will have the opportunity to add two more games to this schedule, or just stick with one and call it a day. Matt Jones of KSR recently reported that Kentucky may have found its last opponent, and it’s the West Virginia Mountaineers. Jones said “deal is not finalized,” but the two schools are in negotiations to make it happen. It would be on Black Friday, November 27, 2026.
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However, CBS Sports’ Matt Norlander says this matchup happening is about 50-50 right now, so don’t pencil it in just yet.
Kentucky will have a fun, but challenging schedule ahead for year three of the Mark Pope era. Let’s hope it will be a fun ride that sees this team make some real noise when March Madness rolls around.
