UK Men's Basketball Ready for Blue-White Game on Friday
The return to normal for Kentucky men’s basketball continues on Friday night when the Wildcats hold the Blue-White Game at Rupp Arena.
Just one week after the return of Big Blue Madness in front of a live crowd, Kentucky will hold a public intrasquad scrimmage on Friday night for the first time since 2019.
Fans got their first look at the 2021-22 Cats on Friday night at Madness. But this week’s Blue-White Game will more closely resemble what the Big Blue Nation will see during the regular season.
Head coach John Calipari and his staff will split the Cats into two squads – Blue and White – and go head to head Friday at 7 p.m. The game will be televised on the SEC Network. Tom Leach and UK Athletics Hall of Famer Mike Pratt will call the action on the radio on the UK Sports Network.
Calipari is anxious to see how his team performs in a game setting.
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| Kentucky Blue-White Game | ||
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Fri., Oct. 22 – 7 p.m. ET |
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TV: SEC Network |
“When there’s popcorn popping and there’s people in the seats, guys seem to play different,” Calipari said. “Most of the time it takes me a minute for them to figure out who it’s supposed to be. Yes, we’ll have an idea. It’s us playing against each other. They know each other. We’ll play a couple exhibition and then we start regular season. We’ll have it figured out by then.”
Friday’s Blue-White Game will begin a three-game exhibition season for Kentucky prior to beginning the regular season. Kentucky will face Kentucky Wesleyan on Oct. 29, followed by a final exhibition against Miles College on Nov. 5. The Cats will face Duke in the highly-anticipated season opener on Nov. 9 in the State Farm Champions Classic in New York.
Ticket prices for the annual intrasquad scrimmage will range from $5 to $25. All seating is reserved and all patrons require a ticket regardless of age.
A limited number of tickets will be distributed to UK students through a lottery system, and information is currently posted online at UKStudentTix.com.
Earlier this week, the Wildcats were picked by the league’s media to win the 2021 Southeastern Conference championship for a 50th time. It would mark UK’s seventh regular-season title under John Calipari if the Wildcats can match those expectations.
In addition to the preseason team pick, junior guard Sahvir Wheeler was named to the preseason All-SEC First Team, while graduate student guard Kellan Grady and junior forwards Keion Brooks Jr. and Oscar Tshiebwe were tabbed to the second team.
Kentucky finished 9-16 last season, missing the NCAA Tournament for the first time in eight years. The Wildcats are expected to rebound this season with a nice mix of experienced veterans and talented newcomers, who have come to Lexington both via the transfer portal and straight from high school.
When Kentucky last held the Blue-White Game, prior to the 2019-20 season, Immanuel Quickley led all scorers with 25 points and Nate Sestina added 22. Both Nick Richards and Brooks had 20 points and 11 rebounds in that game.
Terrence Jones (2011-12) owns the Blue-White Game scoring record with 52 points in the 2011 edition.
Friday will mark the 13th time the exhibition will be held in Rupp Arena.
