The Kentucky Wildcats men’s basketball team will begin the 2000-01 season with its earliest season opener in school history, battling St. John’s in the Coaches vs. Cancer IKON Classic in New York’s Madison Square Garden on Nov. 9. Kansas plays UCLA in the other half of the tournament and the consolation and championship games will follow on Nov. 10.
The Classic opens a 28-game schedule for the Wildcats, who will be playing their 98th season of basketball. The schedule, released today by UK Athletics Director Larry Ivy, will rival last year’s slate, which was rated No. 1 by two independent RPI polls.
“We will play a very competitive schedule once again, one that will test us against the nation’s best competition,” said Coach Tubby Smith, beginning his fourth season at Kentucky. Sixteen of the Cats’ 24 opponents advanced to postseason tournaments last season, including three NCAA Final Four teams and NIT runner-up Notre Dame.
“We’ve assembled a schedule that prepares us for conference and postseason play, one that should be ranked among the nation’s best,” Larry Ivy said. “And we’re also pleased to renew old rivalries with both North Carolina and Notre Dame.”
The Cats open their home slate on Nov. 25 against Penn State. Kentucky has won 20 straight games at Rupp Arena, the nation’s sixth-longest home win streak. The Wildcats then play five of their next seven games away from Lexington. On Dec. 2, UK will play at North Carolina, with new coach Matt Doherty, renewing a home-and-home series that was discontinued after the 1990 season. After a home match-up on Dec. 5 with Eastern Kentucky and new coach Travis Ford, a former Wildcat, UK plays at Georgia Tech (Dec. 9) and at defending national champion Michigan State (Dec. 16).
Two of the next three games will be played in Louisville’s Freedom Hall as the Cats battle Indiana on Dec. 22 followed by the host Cardinals on Jan. 2. High Point, Coach Smith’s alma mater, will visit Rupp Arena on Dec. 27.
The 16-game Southeastern Conference schedule begins Jan. 6 as Georgia invades Lexington and concludes with four of the last six regular-season games on the road — at Tennessee (Feb. 14), Vanderbilt (Feb. 17), Arkansas (Feb. 25) and Florida (March 4).
UK will face one non-conference foe during the SEC schedule, renewing a series with Notre Dame on Jan. 13 in Lexington. The Cats and Irish have not played since Dec. ’96.
The SEC Tournament, which has been held in Atlanta the last three years, will be played in Nashville at the Gaylord Entertainment Center, home of the NHL’s Nashville Predators, March 8-11.
Every one of the Wildcats’ regular-season games will be televised, including six games on CBS, eight games on ESPN or espn2, seven games on Jefferson-Pilot Sports and two games broadcast on Fox Sports South. Schedule Notes
The Kentucky-North Carolina game tips off the CBS Sports broadcast schedule for the 2001 season.
UK’s Senior Day opponent will be Auburn in Rupp Arena on Feb. 28.
At Madison Square Garden, UK is 32-8, including a 1-1 record there last season in the Preseason NIT.
Kentucky’s annual game at the Firstar Center in Cincinnati will be played against Jacksonville State, the first meeting between the two teams.
