Kentucky men’s basketball unveils SEC opponents for the 2024-25 season

Cole Parke, Sports Editor

May 13, 2024

Mark Pope recognizes a reporter during his introductory press conference as the new head coach of Kentucky men’s basketball on Sunday, April 14, 2024, at Rupp Arena in Lexington, Kentucky. Photo by Abbey Cutrer | Staff

Kentucky men’s basketball unveiled its SEC opponents for the 2024-25 season on Monday, listing all conference home and away games.

Looking at its home slate, Kentucky will host the likes of Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Florida, LSU, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas A&M and Vanderbilt.

On the road, Kentucky will travel to Alabama, Georgia, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Missouri, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas and Vanderbilt.

Mark Pope claps at his introductory press conference as the new head coach of Kentucky men’s basketball on Sunday, April 14, 2024, at Rupp Arena in Lexington, Kentucky. Photo by Abbey Cutrer | Staff

With the full slate unveiled, Kentucky will play every team in the conference at least once, getting home and away contests against Alabama, Tennessee and Vanderbilt.

Kentucky played home and away games against the two Tennessee outfits last season, winning in Knoxville but dropping the home game against Tennessee and sweeping the Commodores, who will be expected to take a step up after hiring former James Madison coach Mark Byington.

As for Alabama, the Cats defeated the Crimson Tide in blowout fashion, setting a record for points scored in SEC play, at home last season, but the last time UK traveled to Tuscaloosa was the lopsided 78-52 loss to eventual No. 1 overall seed Alabama in 2023.

Looking at just the home slate, in perhaps the most anticipated game of the season, Kentucky will host the Arkansas Razorbacks, home of former head coach John Calipari, who left in controversial fashion after the Cats’ NCAA Tournament loss to Oakland.

Kentucky will not make the return trip to Fayetteville, meaning Calipari’s homecoming to Lexington will be the only meeting of the pairing in the regular season.

The Cats will also host Auburn, LSU, South Carolina and Texas A&M, all of which were road contests one year ago with UK losing three of the four, blowing out Auburn but being the victim of an LSU buzzer beater, a South Carolina blowout and an overtime defeat in College Station.

Kentucky Athletics Director Mitch Barnhart holds a jersey with Mark Pope at Pope’s introductory press conference as the new head coach of Kentucky men’s basketball on Sunday, April 14, 2024, at Rupp Arena in Lexington, Kentucky. Photo by Abbey Cutrer | Staff

The home contest against the Florida Gators will be the only meeting of the regular season for the pairs who frequently play home and away, with UK winning in Gainesville but losing at home last season.

As for the road slate, Kentucky gets trips to Texas and Oklahoma in the pair’s first ever season in the SEC, marking the first conference matchups for UK and the two former Big 12 outfits.

Kentucky will also play both Mississippi schools on the road after having a home and away with Mississippi State (2-0) and hosting Ole Miss (1-0) last season.

It will also travel to Georgia and Missouri, both of which it hosted and defeated within Rupp Arena.

The SEC has yet to announce the dates and times of any of its conference matchups.