UK Men’s Basketball Pro Day Set for Oct. 6 at the Craft Center
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The Kentucky men’s basketball team’s annual Pro Day, which provides NBA organizations with an up-close look at the current Wildcats’ roster, has been set for Oct. 6 in the men’s practice gym of the Joe Craft Center.
As usual, it won’t just be the NBA teams that get to watch.
With SEC Network televising the event for a sixth consecutive season, fans will once again get to see behind the curtain as UK gets ready for the 2019-20 season. The televised portion of Pro Day will air live from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Seth Greenberg and Jimmy Dykes will be on hand to call the action for SEC Network.
Because of ongoing construction in Rupp Arena, Pro Day will make a return to the Craft Center, UK’s on-campus practice facility. The first three years were held in the Craft Center before moving to Rupp Arena for the following two.
All 30 NBA teams are invited to the annual Pro Day, where the Wildcats will go through a combine-like practice conducted by Kentucky coaches and staff. Coaches and staff will direct the players through various agility and shooting drills in addition to 3-on-3 and 5-on-5 scrimmaging. All 30 NBA teams were represented during the previous five seasons.
The televised practice will serve as a warm-up before Big Blue Madness, which will take place the following week, on Oct. 11, in Rupp Arena.
Kentucky is coming off a 30-7 season that culminated in a trip to the Elite Eight, the Wildcats’ seventh under head coach John Calipari. Those seven appearances lead the country over the last 10 seasons.
The Wildcats are again expected to be among the teams challenging for a national title. The Wildcats welcome back a solid core of returners led by sophomore guards Ashton Hagans (7.7 points per game and 160 total assists in 2018-19) and Immanuel Quickley (30 3-pointers), junior forward Nick Richards (74 career games), and sophomore forward EJ Montgomery (3.8 points, 4.1 rebounds in 2018-19).
To replace the losses of first-round NBA Draft picks PJ Washington, Tyler Herro and Keldon Johnson, plus Reid Travis, who signed a professional contract in the German Basketball Bundesliga, Calipari has brought in another top-ranked recruiting class that features six freshmen – five of them considered consensus four- or five-star prospects – plus graduate transfer Nate Sestina.
The full 2019-20 schedule was released earlier this week with most of the tip times and TV designations. The schedule is available to view at UKathletics.com.
For the latest on the Kentucky men’s basketball team, follow @KentuckyMBB on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, and on the web at UKathletics.com.
