Kentucky basketball announces 2023-24 non-conference schedule. Who will the Cats play?
The 13-game non-conference schedule for the Kentucky men’s basketball team’s 2023-24 season has been revealed, with UK officially announcing its full slate Thursday.
Much of the Wildcats’ schedule for the early portion of the upcoming campaign was already known before the program confirmed its plans, and — on paper, in August, at least — this is looking like one of the toughest schedules during John Calipari’s tenure as UK’s head coach.
The marquee games for Kentucky outside of Southeastern Conference competition will begin with a matchup against probable preseason-No. 1 Kansas in Chicago for the Champions Classic on Nov. 14.
Other big names on the non-conference portion of the schedule include Miami (Nov. 28 in Rupp Arena), North Carolina (Dec. 16 in Atlanta for the CBS Sports Classic), Louisville (Dec. 21 in the Yum Center) and Gonzaga (Feb. 10 in Rupp Arena).
Kansas is the near-unanimous choice as college basketball’s No. 1 team going into the 2023-24 season, according to various summer rankings from prominent national outlets. Miami, North Carolina and Gonzaga are also widely ranked in preseason Top 25 lists. CBS Sports ranks Kentucky at No. 16, and ESPN has the Wildcats at No. 17 nationally.
UK’s season will officially start Nov. 6 against New Mexico State in Rupp Arena, and the Cats will also host a “multi-team event” (or an MTE, in college basketball slang) featuring home games against Texas A&M-Commerce (Nov. 10), Stonehill College (Nov. 17) and Saint Joseph’s (Nov. 20).
The final addition to UK’s non-conference schedule leading up to Thursday’s announcement was a game against Ivy League contender Penn at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia on Dec. 9, a third neutral-site game for the Wildcats during the regular season.
The other three non-conference opponents on the Kentucky schedule will be Marshall (Nov. 24), UNC Wilmington (Dec. 2) and Illinois State (Dec. 29). All of those games will be played in Rupp Arena.
Official dates for Big Blue Madness, the annual Blue-White Game and UK’s exhibition games have not yet been announced, though the program’s annual Madness event is expected to take place Oct. 13 in Rupp, with the Blue-White Game coming the following weekend.
Last season featured two early and longer-than-usual road trips for Kentucky’s team, which played Gonzaga in Spokane and Michigan in London, England, during the first month of the campaign, along with early-season, neutral-site games in New York and Indianapolis. (Kentucky ended up with a 1-3 record in those games.)
This season won’t have quite as much travel in the beginning. UK’s only four games outside of Lexington before the start of SEC play will be the neutral-site contests in Chicago, Philadelphia and Atlanta, plus the short bus ride to Louisville for the annual rivalry game. That matchup against the rebuilding Cardinals will be the Cats’ only true road game before conference play begins. (Penn is located in Philly but plays its home games in The Palestra.)
Kentucky’s opponents for the 18-game SEC schedule were announced earlier this summer, but specific dates and times have not yet been revealed. Last year, the full SEC schedule was released in early September, and a similar timeline is expected for the 2023-24 season.
The five league teams that UK will face twice during the regular season are Arkansas, Florida, Mississippi State, Tennessee and Vanderbilt.
Arkansas, Tennessee and Mississippi State are all included in the early CBS Sports Top 25, while ESPN also has Alabama at No. 22, and both outlets have Texas A&M in their rankings. ESPN also listed Auburn and Florida among its first five teams just outside of the Top 25.
In all, Kentucky will have 15 regular-season games against teams that are featured in ESPN’s latest offseason Bracketology update, which lists Kansas as the top overall seed for the 2024 NCAA Tournament.
The Wildcats are a 6 seed in those preseason projections.
UK will boast a roster light on college basketball experience but arguably tops in the nation in potential.
Calipari, who is entering his 15th year as Kentucky’s head coach, welcomes in another No. 1-ranked recruiting class, a group that features eight freshmen, led by projected one-and-done NBA lottery picks Justin Edwards and D.J. Wagner, fellow McDonald’s All-Americans Aaron Bradshaw and Reed Sheppard, as well as five-star guard Rob Dillingham. That freshmen group also includes late additions Jordan Burks, Joey Hart and Zvonimir Ivišić, a 7-foot-2 player from Croatia who has been playing professionally in Europe and committed to the Cats earlier this month. Ivišić is also seen as a possible one-and-done NBA Draft pick.
Leading backcourt scorer Antonio Reeves and sophomores Ugonna Onyenso and Adou Thiero are the only scholarship returnees from last season’s team, and they’ll be joined by West Virginia transfer Tre Mitchell — like Reeves, a fifth-year player — as the four Cats with previous college experience.
Kentucky’s 2023-24 non-conference schedule
Home games in all capital letters
Mon., Nov. 6: NEW MEXICO STATE
Fri., Nov. 10: TEXAS A&M-COMMERCE-1
Tues., Nov. 14: Kansas-2
Fri., Nov. 17: STONEHILL-1
Mon., Nov. 20: SAINT JOSEPH’S-1
Fri., Nov. 24: MARSHALL
Tues., Nov. 28: MIAMI (FLA.)-3
Sat., Dec. 2: UNC WILMINGTON
Sat., Dec. 9: Penn-4
Sat., Dec. 16: North Carolina-5
Thurs., Dec. 21: At Louisville
Fri., Dec. 29: ILLINOIS STATE
Sat., Feb. 10: GONZAGA
1-Wildcat Challenge at Rupp Arena; 2-Champions Classic at United Center in Chicago; 3-ACC-SEC Challenge; 4-At the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia; 5-CBS Sports Classic at State Farm Arena in Atlanta.
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