BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The Southeastern Conference revealed its 2023-24 home-and-away designations for the league schedule on Monday. The Kentucky men’s basketball team will once again play an 18-game league schedule with nine contests inside Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center and nine more on the road.
As announced prior to the 2015-16 season, Kentucky’s permanent home-and-away opponents include Florida, Tennessee and Vanderbilt. This upcoming season, the Wildcats will also play Arkansas and Mississippi State twice in the regular season. It’s the second straight year the Cats and Hogs will tangle twice.
Kentucky’s league home schedule will include the five aforementioned teams as well as Alabama, Georgia, Ole Miss and Missouri. UK’s road matchups will come against Auburn, LSU, South Carolina and Texas A&M in addition to Arkansas and Mississippi State and the three permanent home-and-home opponents.
Times, dates and television information will be announced at a later date.
Six SEC teams advanced to the NCAA Tournament a season ago and the league led the nation with three teams advancing to the Sweet 16. It marked the fourth time in the last nine tournaments that the SEC had three or more teams in the Sweet 16.
UK’s home-and-home slate features five intriguing matchups. The Wildcats will take on Arkansas who the Cats split the series with a season ago with both road teams taking home a victory. UK’s Antonio Reeves scored 37 points in the regular-season finale for the Wildcats. This marks the first time in the history of the series that the teams will meet twice in the regular-season in consecutive years. Kentucky leads the all-time series by a 34-14 mark.
The Cats have won each of the last four meetings with the Gators and have captured wins in nine of the last 10 overall. Kentucky is 109-41 all-time against Florida and is 23-9 in the series under John Calipari.
Kentucky and Mississippi State will meet in a home-and-home series for the first time since 2018-19. The Wildcats prevailed in down-to-the-wire matchup in Starkville, Mississippi last season by a 71-68 margin. UK leads the all-time series by a 101-21 margin, including 16-1 under Calipari.
UK has played Tennessee more than any other program in its history and owns a 160-77 all-time series record. Kentucky swept the Volunteers last season, marking the first time the Cats were victorious in both regular-season matchups since 2011-12.
Kentucky leads the all-time series with Vanderbilt 155-49, but the Commodores took two of three meetings a season ago, including an opening-round win in the SEC Tournament. Kentucky is 24-6 all-time in the series under Calipari and prior to last season owned a 13-game winning streak.
Calipari and the Wildcats will get an early start to their season with a foreign trip to Toronto, Canada, for the GLOBL Jam in July. Canada Basketball, in partnership with the National Association of Basketball Coaches, invited the Wildcats to represent the United States in a world-class international basketball showcase featuring Under-23 teams from around the world. In addition to Canada and the United States, GLOBL JAM will feature an African contingent and Germany on the men’s side. Teams will compete in a round-robin format July 12-15, followed by a bronze and gold medal championship game on July 16.
Tickets are available via Ticketmaster.
For the latest on the Kentucky men’s basketball team, follow @KentuckyMBB on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok, and on the web at UKathletics.com.
