Kentucky Basketball Bahamas Tour Headquarters
For the third time, including the second time in four years, the Kentucky men’s basketball team will play preseason exhibition games in the Bahamas. The 2022 tour begins on Wednesday in Nassau.
Kentucky will play four games during the trip, with all four contests being held at the Baha Mar Resort. UK opens its week by facing the Dominican Republic National Select Team on Wednesday at 7 p.m. The Cats follow that with a game against Tec de Monterrey on Thursday, also at 7 p.m.
After a day off on Friday, Kentucky will face Carleton (Canada) University on Saturday at 6 p.m. The tour will conclude on Sunday when UK faces the Bahamas National Select Team at noon.
All four games can be seen on the SEC Network and can be heard on the UK Sports Network.
The Wildcats’ returning core is headlined by Oscar Tshiebwe, the reigning National Player of the Year, who led the country with 15.1 rebounds per game and also paced the Cats in scoring at 17.4 points per game. Kentucky will also welcome back Sahvir Wheeler, who led the conference and ranked third in the country with 6.9 assists per game. Forwards Daimion Collins, Jacob Toppin and Lance Ware all were instrumental in helping the Wildcats to a 26-8 season a year ago and a No. 2 national seed in the NCAA Tournament.
In all, UK is returning 44.3% of its scoring production, 58.4% of its rebounding, 50% of its steals, 51.2% of its assists and 72.3% of its blocks from a season ago.
Kentucky will also welcome in four dynamic newcomers, including top-10 signees Chris Livingston and Cason Wallace. Both players were Gatorade State Players of the Year and McDonald’s All Americans. Fast-rising prospect Adou Thiero inked with the Cats during the late signing period. UK also added one of the top transfers in Antonio Reeves, who ranked among the nation’s top 20 individual scorers a season ago at Illinois State averaging 20.1 points per game.
This marks the third time the Wildcats have ascended on The Bahamas to serve as a tune-up for the regular season, and both previous times the Cats came away with positive results. UK first traveled to the island prior to the 2014-15 season, which ignited a magical run that ended with an undefeated regular season, SEC regular-season and tournament titles, and a trip to the Final Four. Kentucky earned a 4-0 mark in The Bahamas in 2018, prior to going 30-7 and reaching the Elite Eight in 2019.
