Kentucky to Begin Season at No. 23 in Associated Press Top 25
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The Mark Pope tenure will begin with the Kentucky men’s basketball program in familiar territory. The Wildcats will enter the 2024-25 season ranked in the Associated Press Top 25, coming in at No. 23.
This is the 57th time in program history that the Wildcats are among the top-rated teams to open the season in 64 preseason AP polls. Kentucky leads all programs with 970 appearances in the weekly poll, which is in its 76th season.
Kansas begins the season as the preseason No. 1 ranked team. Rounding out the top five include Alabama, UConn, Houston and Iowa State. The full preseason rankings are available via collegebasketball.ap.org.
Ten Kentucky opponents enter the 2024-25 season ranked in the AP Top 25, including two nonconference opponents in Gonzaga (No. 6) and Duke (No. 7). Ohio State, Clemson and Louisville are all receiving votes entering the season.
In addition to the Wildcats, a nation-leading nine Southeastern Conference programs rank among the AP Top 25 to begin the season including Alabama (No. 2), Auburn (No. 11), Tennessee (No. 12), Texas A&M (No. 13), Arkansas (No. 16), Texas (No. 19), Florida (No. 21) and Ole Miss (No. 24). Mississippi State is receiving votes.
UK will have 12 total matchups in 2024-25 against preseason top 25 opponents.
Kentucky will field one of the most experienced teams in the country, but not a single scholarship player has appeared in a game for the Blue and White. UK’s veteran lineup has played in 845 career games, made 586 starts, scored 7,900 points and sunk 1,033 3-pointers at a 37.0% rate.
Ansley Almonor, Lamont Butler, Andrew Carr and Amari Williams are all 1,000-point scorers. Butler and Williams were named their league’s defensive player of the year, while Koby Brea and Jaxson Robinson have been tabbed a conference’s sixth man of the year in their career and Almonor was a most improved selection. Brandon Garrison is a former McDonald’s All-American. Kerr Kriisa has played in 99 career games and has made 238 3-pointers, while Otega Oweh has seen action in 60 games and was Oklahoma’s second-leading scorer a season ago.
Kentucky’s freshmen group includes Travis Perry and Trent Noah from the state of Kentucky and Collin Chandler, a former top-35 signee in the class of 2022. Perry is the state’s all-time leading scorer, while Noah broke the Sweet 16 state record for most 3-pointers drained in a single run with 19 this season.
The Wildcats will hold their annual Blue-White event on Oct. 18, at 6 p.m. before a pair of exhibition games against Kentucky Wesleyan (Oct. 23) and Minnesota State Mankato (Oct. 29).
UK then opens the regular season inside Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center at 7 p.m. on Nov. 4 against Wright State.
Single-game tickets for Kentucky men’s basketball games will be offered this season through multiple public on-sale dates, the first of which will begin at 5 p.m. ET tonight.
The first public on-sale date for single-game tickets will include Kentucky’s first nine home games, including the two exhibition games. Tickets will be available exclusively online at Ticketmaster.com or through the Ticketmaster app. Tickets for Kentucky’s final 11 home games, including all SEC games and the games vs. Louisville and Brown, will go on sale at a later date to be determined, based on availability.
With season ticket renewals complete and strong demand for new seats continuing through the season ticket lottery, there is no guarantee that single-game tickets will be available for all games. Fans are reminded that single-game inventory for Kentucky basketball games is limited, as a majority of tickets are sold as season ticket packages or held as part of the student allotment. Additional ticket inventory from the student allotment may be released to the public at a later date, based upon student sales.
A limited number of premium floor and courtside single-game ticket options are available through the K Fund. In addition, a select number of new loge box seats behind the team benches will debut this year, for game-by-game purchase. All premium options include access to pre-game and halftime hospitality. For more information on these exclusive experiences, contact the K Fund Office at (859) 257-8792 or L.Love@uky.edu.
For the latest on the Kentucky men’s basketball team, follow @KentuckyMBB on Twitter/X, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok, and on the web at UKathletics.com.
