Can Kentucky basketball return to Final Four in 2025-26? 5 noteworthy games this season

LEXINGTON — Kentucky basketball doesn't lack for high-profile games — in or out of conference — during the 2025-26 season.

There's the SEC opener at Alabama, which won all three meetings with UK last season (including Kentucky's largest loss in the conference tournament). There's the annual home-and-home with Tennessee, which saw UK sweep the 2024-25 regular-season series — but the Volunteers exacted their revenge by ending the Wildcats' season in the Sweet 16. There's a trip to defending league regular-season champion Auburn, which pummeled Kentucky at Rupp Arena in their only matchup. There's the renewal of the North Carolina rivalry — one of only two Division I programs (Saint Louis is the other) to hold an edge over UK in series with 10-plus games played. There's a Champions Classic tilt against Tom Izzo and Michigan State. And there's the fourth game in the six-year series with Gonzaga, which will be in Nashville this season.

Yet none of those marquee matchups make this list of the most noteworthy games on the Wildcats' 2025-26 slate.

It's a mixture of in-conference and nonconference contests. A grab bag of games in Lexington, road affairs and neutral site-tussles. Familiar faces from Kentucky's illustrious past.

In years to come, these five games will play a part in determining how coach Mark Pope's second season at UK is remembered.

at Louisville (Nov. 11 at KFC Yum! Center)

Pope drew first blood in the first Battle of the Bluegrass meeting against fellow first-year coach Pat Kelsey last season. But unlike the two previous editions of the game, contested during the ill-fated Kenny Payne tenure, Louisville was competitive from opening tipoff to final buzzer last year at Rupp Arena.

UK/U of L is expected to be even closer this year.

Various preseason ranking projections feature both the Wildcats and Cardinals among the top 15 — some with the two in-state powers in the top 10.

After last season, Kelsey will aim to even the score against Pope. And Pope hopes to move his mark versus the Cards to 2-0.

Kentucky always wants to beat Louisville; that's not in question.

Yet it's also hard to dispute this game will mean more for U of L on multiple levels.

The top-to-bottom depth of the SEC means the Wildcats will have many more opportunitities for Quad 1 wins than the Cardinals in an ACC still trying to recapture its former glory.

Louisville also is seeking any taste of success in this rivalry.

UK, which leads the all-time series 40-17, enters this season having won the past three meetings — and eight of the past 10.

Since the dawn of the new millennium in 2000, U of L only has beaten Kentucky seven times. In that same span, the Wildcats have 19 victories over the Cards.

Kelsey will do everything in his power to begin changing that narrative. Pope's job is to ensure the status quo remains.

vs. Indiana (Dec. 13 at Rupp Arena)

After 14 long years, Kentucky and Indiana, two of the most prestigious programs — in two of the most basketball-obsessed states in the nation — finally will face off again in the regular season.

This year's matchup is almost 14 years to the day of the last regular-season meeting: the 73-72 thriller won by the Hoosiers at the buzzer thanks to Christian Watford's 3, handing then-top-ranked UK its first loss in a season the Wildcats would go on to win the national championship.

Since that memorable game, the pair have only played twice. Both in the NCAA Tournament. First, UK avenged Watford's buzzer-beater in a Sweet 16 rematch, earning a 102-90 victory in Atlanta. Four years later, IU bounced Kentucky from March Madness in a second-round matchup in Des Moines, Iowa.

Now, these two titans will clash in the regular season once more. This is the first of a four-game series the programs announced in 2023. They will meet again at Rupp in 2027, with the other two games at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis (2026) and the finale at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall in Bloomington, Indiana, in 2028.

Pope's counterpart in this matchup is Darian DeVries. Much like Pope last season, DeVries strives to turn a proud program back in the right direction.

Yet the Hoosiers have sunk to far lower levels than the Wildcats have experienced.

While UK went to the Final Four in 2015, and owns the aforementioned national title in 2012, IU hasn't even reached the Elite Eight since 2002. (That also doubles as the Hoosiers' most recent Final Four appearance, when they were the national runners-up.) Indiana's last national championship was 1987.

IU has had five coaches since it fired Bob Knight a quarter-century ago.

DeVries is the latest to attempt to resurrect the program since the messy ending of Knight's tenure.

For Kentucky, this will be the resumption of a rivalry it leads 32-25. A win might not move the needle nationally, but any triumph over IU warms the hearts of UK fans.

Conversely, knocking off Kentucky, at Rupp Arena (which Indiana hasn't done since 1988), would boost IU's résumé come March, as it enters the season on the outside of the NCAA Tournament field in Joe Lunardi's most recent Bracketology projection.

Pope already boasts a winning record in some of UK's other most bitter rivalries, including U of L (1-0), Duke (1-0) and Tennessee (2-1). He'll try to add Indiana to that ledger this season.

vs. St. John's (Dec. 20 at State Farm Arena in Atlanta)

Pope expresses his respect for his former college coach, Rick Pitino, whenever the opportunity arises.

Yet he undoubtedly wants to better his mentor when UK takes on St. John's in this year's CBS Sports Classic.

This will be the Red Storm's first appearance in this event, replacing UCLA.

As with so many of Kentucky's opponents this season, St. John's likely will be a tough out. The Red Storm should begin the season in the top 10 of both major preseason polls; possibly the top five. That sets up the possibility of this being a top-10 or top-five matchup by the time Dec. 20 arrives.

Beyond the Pope vs. Pitino storyline, this is a tasty matchup.

The Red Storm brings back Zuby Ejiofor, who should be among the best centers in college basketball after earning All-Big East first-team honors. St. John's added a former Kentucky player in Bryce Hopkins — who went on to become a superstar, when healthy, the past three seasons at Providence — along with a pair of guards (Ian Jackson of North Carolina and Joson Sanon of Arizona State) who ranked among the top transfer portal entrants available; 247Sports ranked the Red Storm's transfer portal class as the best in the country.

On paper, this game has all the makings of a classic.

Undoubtedly, it's the most high-profile contest of UK's 2025-26 slate.

at Arkansas (Jan. 31, Bud Walton Arena)

John Calipari already is 1-up on his former employer. After 15 seasons at Kentucky, he brought his new team, Arkansas, into Lexington on Feb. 1. The Razorbacks stunned the Wildcats, notching a 10-point win at Rupp Arena.

Almost relentlessly upbeat even in the most dire of circumstances, Pope didn't hide how much the loss to his immediate predecessor stung.

"My guys were really hurting in that locker room," Pope said after the defeat. "They know what this building means. They know what this jersey means. They see everything and hear everything. They know what matters. They're getting a (firsthand), up-close look at how much it means to the people they're playing for."

Pope & Co. will try to even the square at Calipari's new home this time around.

Even with Zvonimir Ivišić (transferred to Illinois) and Adou Thiero (now in the NBA) having moved on, there are plenty of personalities within Arkansas' program, other than Calipari, UK fans will recognize.

Former UK assistants Chin Coleman, Bruiser Flint, Chuck Martin and Kenny Payne are on Calipari's staff. Brad Calipari, a walk-on at Kentucky during his father's tenure, now is an assistant coach for the Razorbacks. Tyler Ulis, a star floor general for Calipari, is another assistant.

Guard D.J. Wagner, who spent the 2023-24 season in Lexington, is entering his second go-round in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Karter Knox and Billy Richmond III, who once were members of Kentucky's 2024 recruiting class before Calipari's departure, are sophomores for the Razorbacks. Arkansas freshmen Darius Acuff Jr. and Meleek Thomas were UK targets while Calipari still guided the program.

This game won't take on the be-all, end-all overtones last season's matchup wrought.

But for Pope's sanity, and that of the Kentucky fan base, it would be best if the Wildcats don't fall to 0-2 against Calipari since he disembarked for another SEC outpost.

vs. Florida (March 7, Rupp Arena)

The magnitude of this game should be obvious.

Florida is the defending national champion. It likely will be tabbed the favorite to win the SEC this season. And it will be a trendy pick to repeat as national champs — a feat it accomplished under former coach Billy Donovan in 2006 and 2007.

But take a look at the Gators' schedule last season: They went 36-4. One of the four teams to top them: the Wildcats.

After Florida started 13-0, UK dealt UF its first defeat of the season in a rollicking, high-octane battle at Rupp Arena on Jan. 4. That was the only time the two teams met in 2024-25.

They'll play a home-and-home this season.

This game takes on greater precedence, however, because of the timing. The first matchup is Feb. 14 in Gainesville, Florida.

The game on this list serves as the regular-season finale for both teams.

Potentially hanging in the balance: The conference's regular-season title as well as the top seed in the league tournament. Not to mention seeding implications for the Big Dance.

In a conference that will be chock-full of headline-grabbing games this season, this one might take the cake.

Call it the SEC saving the best for last.

Reach Kentucky men’s basketball and football reporter Ryan Black at [email protected] and follow him on X at @RyanABlack.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Kentucky basketball schedule: Mark Pope Year 2 defined by these games