John Calipari and the Kentucky Wildcats play a league-high 12 SEC games on national television (UK Athletics)
- The Wildcats will have two highly anticipated games against Vanderbilt this year. The first of which will be played at Memorial Gymnasium in Nashville, Tenn., with the ESPN College Gameday crew of Rece Davis, Digger Phelps, Jay Bilas and Hubert Davis warming up the crowd. The Commodores return all five starters from a year ago and Memorial Gymnasium always provides a great environment. Kentucky and Vanderbilt’s second game is the CBS featured game on Feb. 25 at noon.
- Kentucky’s game at Mississippi State on Feb. 21 should be one of the more intense games on the conference slate. Neither Mississippi State nor Kentucky fans forget the last time the Wildcats visited Starkville, Miss. Trailing by seven on the road with three minutes left, Kentucky made a furious comeback to send the game into overtime. John Wall scored five points in the extra session and finished just two assists shy of a triple-double as UK came out with a six-point victory.
- Staying with the Kentucky-Mississippi State series, a little stat to note is that the two schools have not played a game decided by more than 10 points since 2006 when Kentucky defeated the Bulldogs in Starkville 81-66. Kentucky leads the series 4-3 in the seven games played since then, with three of those seven games going into overtime, including UK’s dramatic one-point victory in the 2010 SEC Tournament Championship.
- Kentucky closes with a brutal final three games against traditional SEC Eastern division foes, Vanderbilt, Georgia and Florida. While the divisions are gone, the rivalries remain. Kentucky split the regular season series against each of the three teams last year with the home team winning each ball game.
- Kentucky does not play Florida until Feb. 7 this year when it hosts the Gators for a 7:00 p.m. showdown on ESPN. Kentucky took the three-game series against Florida 2-1 last year, with the Wildcats taking the rubber match 70-54 in the SEC Tournament Championship. Billy Donovan’s group will feature an electrifying backcourt led by All-SEC second team performers Kenny Boynton and Erving Walker and incoming freshman phenom Bradley Beal.
- Last season’s trip to Athens, Ga., did not turn out the way Calipari and Co., would have liked. The Wildcats will venture to Stegeman Coliseum on Jan. 24 this year looking for a different result from last year’s seven-point conference-opening loss. Georgia travels to Lexington for Kentucky’s Senior Day game on March 1. Kentucky will be honoring seniors Darius Miller and Eloy Vargas.
- Kentucky will face Tennessee and new head coach Cuonzo Martin on Jan. 14 for the first time. Martin left Missouri State to take over for Bruce Pearl at Tennessee and inherits a team that will feature a drastically changed roster as the Volunteers lost all five starters from last year’s NCAA Tournament team.
- Alabama got the best of Kentucky in Tuscaloosa, Ala., last year, holding on for a two-point victory and a signature win for head coach Anthony Grant and the program. While the Crimson Tide flew under the radar for much of the 2010-11 season, the 2011 National Invitation Tournament runners-up will enter the 2011-12 season high on everybody’s radar. Grant welcomes back All-SEC first team forward JaMychal Green, All-SEC second team forward Tony Mitchell and SEC All-freshman guard Trevor Releford. Grant is also bringing in the No. 5 ranked recruiting class in the country, according to Rivals.com.
- Kentucky will go up against new Arkansas head coach Mike Anderson on Jan. 17 at Rupp Arena. Anderson is no stranger to the SEC or Kentucky, though. Anderson spent 17 years with the Razorbacks basketball program led by then-head coach Nolan Richardson. Anderson was most recently the head coach at Missouri and will enter the 2011-12 season with the No. 7 ranked recruiting class, according to Rivals.com.
- John Calipari will go up against his former player and assistant coach Tony Barbee on Jan. 11 when UK travels to Auburn for an 8:00 p.m. ET tip.
