Kentucky Men’s Basketball Receives No. 3 Seed in NCAA Tournament
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The NCAA men’s basketball selection committee has chosen Kentucky as the No. 3 seed in the Midwest Region for the 2025 NCAA Tournament, extending the program’s national record with a 62nd selection to the big dance. The Cats will open play on Friday, when they will face Troy in Milwaukee.
The game will tip off at 7:10 p.m. ET on CBS.
This is the fifth time that Kentucky has earned a No. 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament and the second consecutive year. The team is 6-4 in the tournament as a No. 3 seed, including 2-1 in the first round. The third-seeded Cats reached the Elite Eight in the 1999 NCAA Tournament with wins over New Mexico State, Kansas and Miami (OH) before falling to Michigan State.
UK heads into March Madness with a 22-11 overall record in the program’s first season under head coach Mark Pope. For Pope, the NCAA bid is the third of his coaching career, having twice competed in the tournament while at the helm at BYU, including as a No. 6 seed last year.
The Wildcats finished sixth in the loaded Southeastern Conference, which earned a record 14 bids to the NCAA Tournament. Kentucky is coming off a quarterfinal appearance in the SEC Tournament this past week, where UK topped Oklahoma before falling to Alabama. For the first time ever, Kentucky earned two victories over No. 1 seeds in the NCAA Tournament this season, defeating both Duke and Florida. UK racked up 11 Quad 1 wins and earned eight victories over Associated Press Top 15 opponents, tying an NCAA record for the most such wins.
In addition to the most appearances, Kentucky holds the NCAA Tournament record for most games played (185), while it ranks second all-time in NCAA Tournament wins with 130. The Cats own a 130-55 all-time record in NCAA action, winning eight NCAA championships and reaching 17 Final Fours.
Looking ahead to Thursday’s matchup, Kentucky is 49-12 in NCAA Tournament openers and has won 26 of its last 29 opening-round games.
Kentucky is set to play Troy for the second time in program history. UK owns a 1-0 record in the series all-time, the lone meeting coming in 2018. Troy is 23-10 on the year and won the Sun Belt Tournament by defeating Arkansas State in the final.
Troy is averaging 73.9 points per game this season while allowing opponents to score 65.4 points per game. The Trojans are shooting 43.8 percent from the field and 29.9 percent from 3 on the season. Troy has a +5.6 rebounding margin and +0.2 turnover margin. Senior guard Tayton Conerway leads the team this season averaging 14.3 points per game while dishing out 158 assists. Thomas Dowd paces the team with 6.8 rebounds per game.
If Kentucky defeats Troy, the Wildcats play Sunday against the winner of No. 6 seed Illinois (21-12) and the play-in game between Texas (19-15) and Xavier (21-11). UK leads the all-time series with Illinois 11-4 and is 4-0 against the Illini in the NCAA Tournament. The Wildcats are 2-1 all-time against Texas, including 0-1 this season, and 37-2 vs. Xavier. UK has not faced the Longhorns or the Musketeers in NCAA Tournament action.
Ticket information:
- Public tickets for the first and second round games in Milwaukee can be purchased by visiting NCAA.com/MBBTickets. Fans will find complete ticket information for all NCAA sites, including information on the NCAA Ticket Exchange (NCAA.com/Exchange), the official secondary marketplace for authentic NCAA Tournament tickets.
- Kentucky receives a limited allotment of tickets from the NCAA. Eligible K Fund members who requested first and second round tickets in advance of Selection Sunday will receive a confirmation email on Monday evening, March 17 from the UK Ticket Office with information on whether or not their request has been fulfilled.
- More information about requesting tickets for all possible rounds of the NCAA Tournament is available here and will be updated as Kentucky advances. Those who are eligible to request NCAA tickets will be notified by email from the UK Ticket Office.
- Student tickets are not available for first and second round games, and information for later rounds will be available at UKStudentTix.com as Kentucky advances.
For the latest on the Kentucky men’s basketball team, follow @KentuckyMBB on X/Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok, and on the web at UKAthletics.com.
