What’s going on with Kentucky’s 2023-24 basketball schedule? Here’s the latest.

The return of college basketball is still about six months away, but it’s never too early to check in on what the University of Kentucky men’s basketball team will be up to once the 2023-24 season begins.

Here’s a look at what we know about the Wildcats’ schedule for next season so far, with the latest dates and matchups confirmed by the Herald-Leader and other timelines to watch as UK’s next slate comes together.

Kentucky’s summer trip

For the second year in a row, the Wildcats will actually tip things off months before the regular season begins.

Last August, the Bahamas was the destination for Kentucky’s summer trip. This time, it’ll be Toronto, host city of the Canada Basketball-organized GLOBL JAM, an event in which UK will represent USA Basketball in a four-team tournament featuring teams from Africa, Canada and Germany.

Here’s the schedule: UK will play Germany at 1:30 p.m. on July 12, Canada at 8 p.m. on July 13, and Africa at 1:30 p.m. on July 15. The Cats will then play a medal game (either bronze or gold) on July 16. Tickets for all games — including single session and all-game packages — are already on sale at basketball.ca/globljam.

This will be the first opportunity for Kentucky fans to see the new team, including the Cats’ No. 1-ranked recruiting class. Complete TV information is yet to be announced.

Early games in Rupp

A request filed by the Herald-Leader earlier this month revealed a few game dates that have already been finalized for the 2023-24 season.

UK will once again host an “MTE” (multi-team event) that will bring three teams to Rupp Arena for games early in the regular season. These opponents have not yet been announced, and the teams that Kentucky plays in these annual events are typically among its lesser competition for the non-conference slate.

All three games are penciled in between Nov. 10-20, though those dates are still flexible, depending on how the rest of the schedule shakes out.

2023 Champions Classic

One major matchup already inked into Kentucky’s schedule is a Champions Classic game against Kansas on Nov. 14 at United Center in Chicago. The UK-KU battle has already been set as the second game — following Duke-Michigan State — with a tip time of approximately 9:30 p.m. Fans can sign up for pre-sale tickets at espnevents.com/champions-classic.

The most recent edition of CBS Sports’ 2023-24 preseason rankings has Kansas as the No. 1 team in the country, with ESPN ranking the Jayhawks at No. 2 nationally. UK is No. 15 and No. 11, respectively, on those lists.

Kentucky is already lined up to play Duke in the 2024 Champions Classic and Michigan State in the 2025 event.

2023 CBS Sports Classic

Another major game date will be Dec. 16, when Kentucky will face either North Carolina, Ohio State or UCLA in the CBS Sports Classic. The Cats’ opponent has not yet been officially announced, and neither has the game site, though Atlanta is expected to be the host city.

The Herald-Leader has learned that Kentucky will face Ohio State in 2024, UCLA in 2025 and North Carolina in 2026 as the event continues into the future. UK played UCLA last year, and it would be logical to match the Cats and Tar Heels in 2023 to avoid back-to-back games with the other two teams in the series. ESPN has UNC at No. 20 in its early rankings.

However, Ohio State, which UK hasn’t played since 2019, could also end up being the opponent. The Buckeyes are not included in the preseason rankings from ESPN or CBS Sports.

Other marquee matchups

Kentucky will play Gonzaga in Rupp Arena during the 2023-24 season, though no official date has been set for that game. The Bulldogs are generally projected as a top-15 team.

UK will also play in the first installment of the ACC/SEC Challenge, which does not have a set date on the calendar but could happen around the Thanksgiving holiday. It would make sense for ESPN — host of the new league challenge — to tip off its event with a Kentucky-Duke matchup on one of those teams’ home courts, especially if the Cats do end up playing North Carolina in the CBS Sports Classic this year. Duke is No. 1 in ESPN’s early rankings for next season.

If the ACC/SEC Challenge does happen in November, it could push the Gonzaga game to later in the schedule — after Southeastern Conference play has begun. (Last year, ESPN announced the matchups and details for the SEC/Big 12 Challenge on June 16, and a similar timeline is expected for the ACC/SEC matchups this year.)

Louisville will host the annual Cats-Cards rivalry game this season at the Yum Center. That date has not been announced, but Dec. 23 or Dec. 30 are the most likely spots on the calendar.

The original agreement that featured Kentucky playing Michigan in London last season also called for games on each team’s home court, but the COVID-19 pandemic scrambled the planning for that, and no dates have been settled upon as of yet. It’s possible these games don’t happen at all, and documents received by the Herald-Leader this month implied that talks to revive (or cancel) this series are still ongoing. A final resolution on the state of the UK-Michigan series is expected in the next few weeks.

There has also been speculation that Kentucky will play Notre Dame on a neutral court during the 2023-24 season, but no contract has been signed for such a game, as of last week, and with longtime head coach Mike Brey’s recent departure from the Fighting Irish program, there’s seemingly a good chance that game will no longer take place.

SEC basketball schedule

The league typically announces its finalized conference schedule during the first week of September, and a similar timeline is expected again this year.

Kentucky will find out its opponents for the 18-game SEC schedule before then, however.

UK will definitely play its three permanent opponents — Florida, Tennessee and Vanderbilt — both home and away. The Cats will play two other league teams twice during the 2023-24 season — those opponents were Arkansas and Georgia last year — and UK will play the other eight teams in the conference just once, either in Lexington or on the road.

Kentucky’s home-and-away SEC matchups are expected to be released by mid-July, with the specific dates set and announced by early September.

Kentucky’s final schedule

When will the complete UK men’s basketball schedule for 2023-24 be finalized?

Hopefully earlier than last year.

The 2022-23 schedule wasn’t fully announced until Oct. 4, 2022, an unprecedentedly late reveal due largely to the manner in which the Kentucky-Gonzaga series came together. The conversations and negotiations around that series, which started with a game last November in Spokane, didn’t begin until an unusually late point in the calendar and the settled date for the 2022-23 game ended up affecting other points on the schedule that had already been finalized, necessitating some additional changes and negotiations with other programs.

No such snags are expected this time around, especially with several marquee opponents — Gonzaga, Kansas, Louisville, the CBS Sports Classic foe and a major ACC team — already set for the non-conference schedule.

The expectation is that Kentucky will be ready to announce a final 2023-24 slate around the time the SEC reveals its full conference schedule in early September.

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