Lexington, Kentucky The final details of the Kentucky men’s basketball program’s 2025–2026 schedule are still being finalised. Head coach Mark Pope revealed the schedule’s five nonconference games on Friday, including a December 13 home game against Indiana. The friendly Rupp Arena at Central Bank Centre will host all five games.
This season’s visitors to Lexington include Loyola University Maryland on November 21, Kentucky Athletics Hall of Famer John Pelphrey and his Tennessee Tech team on November 26, North Carolina Central on December 9, the Hoosiers on December 13, and UK on December 23.
In order to finish the 2025–26 schedule, the UK is anticipated to add more nonconference opponents in addition to the Southeastern Conference slate. Game times and television networks will be revealed later.
Kentucky will play the Ramblers for the second time in program history. In the 2011–12 season, UK also played Loyola University Maryland in Lexington, where the Wildcats prevailed 87–63. Since their most recent meeting in the 2007–08 season, Kentucky has a perfect record of 5-0 versus Tennessee Tech. Lexington has been the site of all five games. UK is ahead of Indiana 32–25 in the series. The teams’ most recent meeting took place in the 2016 NCAA Tournament. It will be the first time Indiana has visited Lexington since the 2010–11 season, and the last regular season meeting between the border rivals took place in 2011–12. Kentucky will play Bellarmine for the second time in the last three seasons. In 2022–23, the UK defeated them 60–41 at Rupp Arena.
For the first time in the history of the program, the Cats will play North Carolina Central.
Returning players Collin Chandler, Brandon Garrison, and Trent Noah helped the Wildcats, who are coming off their first Sweet 16 participation since 2019, finish with a 24-12 record that included victories over an NCAA record-tying eight opponents in the Associated Press Top 15. Chandler’s final six games, all against NCAA Tournament teams, saw him shoot 12 for 23 (52.2%) from beyond the arc. In 17.3 minutes a game as a sophomore, Garrison scored seven double-figure points and shot 50.9% from the floor, while Noah’s breakthrough moment was an 11-point effort in a home victory over No. 5 Tennessee.
One of the top-ranked transfer classes in the nation is bolstering the UK’s firepower in 2025–2026. Denzel Aberdeen of Florida, a 2025 National Champion; Mouhamed Dioubate of Alabama, a two-time NCAA Sweet 16 participant; Pitt’s Jaland Lowe, an All-Atlantic Coast Conference performer; Reece Potter of Miami, Ohio, a native of Lexington and a member of the RedHawks, who won 25 games in 2024–25; Arizona State’s Jayden Quaintance, the National Defensive Player of the Year late-season finalist; and Kam Williams of Tulane, who was named to the American Athletic Conference All-Freshman Team.
In 2024–25, Aberdeen shot 41.8% from the field, 35.0% from outside the arc, and 70.8% from the free-throw line, averaging 7.7 points, 1.7 rebounds, and 1.4 assists per game. He shot 41.4% from 3-point range (12 for 29) and averaged 14.4 points in his five starts this season. For the Crimson Tide in 2024–25, Dioubate averaged 7.2 points, 5.9 rebounds, and 1.1 assists per game. He recorded five double-doubles and scored double figures in 13 games. Lowe averaged a team-high 16.8 points per game, along with 5.5 assists, 4.2 rebounds, and 1.8 steals per game. He started all 31 of Pitt’s games. During his two seasons at Miami, Potter averaged 15.7 minutes per game with 6.3 points and 3.4 rebounds. He had a remarkable 3-point shooting percentage of 39.8% and a field goal percentage of 45.4%. Quaintance averaged 9.4 points, 7.9 rebounds, 2.6 blocks, and 1.5 assists while shooting 52.5 percent from the field in all 24 games he played for the Sun Devils. During his one season with the Green Wave, Williams shot 41.2% from beyond the arc and averaged 9.3 points, 4.5 rebounds, 1.3 assists, and 1.4 blocks per game.
Additionally, the Cats have signed four first-year players: Malachi Moreno, Jasper Johnson, Andrija Jelavić, and Braydon Hawthorne. Both Johnson and Moreno represented Team USA at the April Nike Hoop Summit. In the Overtime Elite League, Johnson averaged 20.3 points, 5.9 rebounds, and 5.8 assists per game while playing for Real Wild Energy. After guiding Great Crossing High School to its first-ever state championship, Moreno was voted Mr. Kentucky Basketball. He finished the game with 24 points, 15 rebounds, and five blocks. He was chosen as an All-American by McDonald’s as well. For Mega Superbet in the Adriatic League, Jelavić, one of the best European prospects, has averaged 11.0 points, 7.4 rebounds, 1.5 assists, and 1.0 steals per game. One of the 2025 class’s fastest-rising prospects, Hawthorne is rated as a four-star talent by most. At Huntington Prep, he averaged 23.5 points, 6.0 rebounds, and 4.0 assists per game, which helped him receive the state of West Virginia’s top overall player ranking.
The season-ticket lottery is open to everyone interested in purchasing new season tickets. Only a small number of upper-level tickets are made available year through the lottery because of the incredibly high renewal rate for men’s basketball season tickets.
Members of the Champions Club, Rupp Arena’s newest hospitality area, and a limited quantity of new lower-level season tickets are available with a capital pledge commitment. Please call (859) 257-6300 to speak with someone at the K Fund Office about premium choices.
