Regular season tips off Nov. 9 vs. Duke at Madison Square Garden
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The final major pieces to the 2021-22 Kentucky men’s basketball schedule have come together with the announcement of the dates for the Southeastern Conference portion of the slate on Thursday.
TV designations and tip times will be announced later.
The Wildcats will play an 18-game league schedule in their pursuit of a 50th SEC regular-season championship. In addition to its annual home-and-away opponents of Florida, Tennessee and Vanderbilt, Kentucky will also take on Alabama and LSU twice during the 2021-22 season.
The full conference schedule is as follows:
| Date | Opponent/Event | Location |
| Oct. 15 | Big Blue Madness | Rupp Arena (Lexington, Ky.) |
| Oct. 22 | Blue-White Game | Rupp Arena (Lexington, Ky.) |
| Oct. 29 | Kentucky Wesleyan | Rupp Arena (Lexington, Ky.) |
| Nov. 5 | Miles College | Rupp Arena (Lexington, Ky.) |
| Nov. 9 | vs. Duke | Madison Square Garden (New York) |
| Nov. 12 | Robert Morris | Rupp Arena (Lexington, Ky.) |
| Nov. 16 | Mount St. Mary’s | Rupp Arena (Lexington, Ky.) |
| Nov. 19 | Ohio | Rupp Arena (Lexington, Ky.) |
| Nov. 22 | Albany | Rupp Arena (Lexington, Ky.) |
| Nov. 26 | North Florida | Rupp Arena (Lexington, Ky.) |
| Nov. 29 | Central Michigan | Rupp Arena (Lexington, Ky.) |
| Dec. 7 | Southern | Rupp Arena (Lexington, Ky.) |
| Dec. 11 | at Notre Dame | Joyce Center (South Bend, Ind.) |
| Dec. 18 | vs. Ohio State | T-Mobile Arena (Las Vegas) |
| Dec. 22 | Louisville | Rupp Arena (Lexington, Ky.) |
| Dec. 29 | Missouri | Rupp Arena (Lexington, Ky.) |
| Dec. 31 | High Point | Rupp Arena (Lexington, Ky.) |
| Jan. 4 | at LSU | Pete Maravich Assembly Center (Baton Rouge, La.) |
| Jan. 8 | Georgia | Rupp Arena (Lexington, Ky.) |
| Jan. 11 | at Vanderbilt | Memorial Gymnasium (Nashville, Tenn.) |
| Jan. 15 | Tennessee | Rupp Arena (Lexington, Ky.) |
| Jan. 19 | at Texas A&M | Reed Arena (College Station-Bryan, Texas) |
| Jan. 22 | at Auburn | Auburn Arena (Auburn, Ala.) |
| Jan. 25 | Mississippi State | Rupp Arena (Lexington, Ky.) |
| Jan. 29 | at Kansas | Allen Fieldhouse (Lawrence, Kan.) |
| Feb. 2 | Vanderbilt | Rupp Arena (Lexington, Ky.) |
| Feb. 5 | at Alabama | Coleman Coliseum (Tuscaloosa, Ala.) |
| Feb. 8 | at South Carolina | Colonial Life Arena (Columbia, S.C.) |
| Feb. 12 | Florida | Rupp Arena (Lexington, Ky.) |
| Feb. 15 | at Tennessee | Thompson-Boling Arena (Knoxville, Tenn.) |
| Feb. 19 | Alabama | Rupp Arena (Lexington, Ky.) |
| Feb. 23 | LSU | Rupp Arena (Lexington, Ky.) |
| Feb. 26 | at Arkansas | Bud Walton Arena (Fayetteville, Ark.) |
| March 1 | Ole Miss | Rupp Arena (Lexington, Ky.) |
| March 5 | at Florida | Exactech Arena (Gainesville, Fla.) |
The league has earned 21 berths in the last three NCAA Tournaments, tied for the second most in college basketball in that time period.
In the latest ESPN preseason poll – which the Wildcats make an appearance at No. 8 – seven of Kentucky’s 2021-22 opponents make an appearance.
Big Blue Madness, the official tipoff to the 2021-22 season, will return as an in-person event Oct. 15 in Rupp Arena.
Kentucky will begin the regular season under arguably the brightest spotlight of any regular-season college basketball game when it takes on Duke on Nov. 9 in the Champions Classic. In a game rich with storylines, the stage (Madison Square Garden) and the backdrop (the beginning of Mike Krzyzewski’s final season) will make for must-see TV.
Kentucky will take on a challenging schedule with a solid blend of talent and experience. UK’s roster features a sixth-year graduate, a fifth-year graduate, a redshirt junior, six juniors, a redshirt sophomore, two sophomores, and three highly touted four- and five-star freshmen.
John Calipari’s squad will return 42.1% of its minutes, 41.9% of its scoring, 39.0% of the rebounds, 42.4% of the assists and 60.6% of the 3-pointers from a season ago. For comparison, the only two Calipari-coached Kentucky teams that returned more minutes and more points (in terms of percentages) than the 2021-22 team is slated to return were the 2011-12 national championship squad and the 2014-15 Final Four team that started the season 38-0.
Adding the Wildcats’ four transfers to the equation, Kentucky’s current 2021-22 roster includes 13,385 minutes, 5,203 points, 1,917 rebounds, 1,132 assists and 543 total 3-pointers in college basketball production.
Fans interested in acquiring new tickets are encouraged to enter the men’s basketball season ticket lottery online. For more information on lower-level seating that is currently available with a K Fund pledge commitment, please reach out to the UK Athletics K Fund staff at (859) 257-6300.
While continuing to monitor the latest health and safety guidelines from local and national authorities, UK Athletics plans to operate venues at full capacity this season.
For the latest on the Kentucky men’s basketball team, follow @KentuckyMBB on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok, and on the web at UKathletics.com.