Even with Kentucky Football on the horizon there is still plenty of room to talk basketball. Today the entire 2024-25 Kentucky men’s basketball schedule was released, including all of its SEC games. We knew how the preseason would look with Big Blue Madness and the Blue/White Game being announced last week, but now the preseason has also finalized two exhibition games coming against Kentucky Wesleyan and Minnesota State Mankato.

There was still a lot of questions about what the rest of the non-conference schedule would look like upon the release. Kentucky has a fairly tough non-conference schedule, with the Wildcats playing Duke, Clemson, Gonzaga, Louisville, Ohio State, WKU, and other smaller schools to round-out that part of the schedule.

Here is a look at the entire 2024-25 schedule:

Date	Opponent/Event	Location
Oct. 11	Big Blue Madness	Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center
Oct. 18	Blue-White Preseason Event	Historic Memorial Coliseum
Oct. 23	Kentucky Wesleyan (exhibition)	Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center
Oct. 29	Minnesota State Mankato (exhibition)	Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center
Nov. 4	Wright State	Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center
Nov. 9	Bucknell	Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center
Nov. 12	vs. Duke (Champions Classic)	Atlanta | State Farm Arena
Nov. 19	Lipscomb (BBN Invitational)	Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center
Nov. 22	Jackson State (BBN Invitational | Unity Series)	Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center
Nov. 26	Western Kentucky (BBN Invitational)	Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center
Nov. 29	Georgia State	Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center
Dec. 3	at Clemson (SEC/ACC Challenge)	Clemson, S.C. | Littlejohn Coliseum
Dec. 7	vs. Gonzaga (Battle in Seattle)	Seattle | Climate Pledge Arena
Dec. 11	Colgate	Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center
Dec. 14	Louisville	Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center
Dec. 21	vs. Ohio State (CBS Sports Classic)	New York | Madison Square Garden
Dec. 31	Brown	Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center
Jan. 4	Florida (SEC)	Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center
Jan. 7/8	at Georgia (SEC)	Athens, Ga. | Stegeman Coliseum
Jan. 11	at Mississippi State (SEC)	Starkville, Miss.| Humphrey Coliseum
Jan. 14/15	Texas A&M (SEC)	Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center
Jan. 18	Alabama (SEC)	Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center
Jan. 25	at Vanderbilt (SEC)	Nashville, Tenn. | Memorial Gymnasium
Jan. 28	at Tennessee (SEC)	Knoxville, Tenn. | Thompson-Boling Arena
Feb. 1	Arkansas (SEC)	Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center
Feb. 4/5	at Ole Miss (SEC)	Oxford, Miss. | Pavilion at Ole Miss
Feb. 8	South Carolina (SEC)	Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center
Feb. 11/12	Tennessee (SEC)	Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center
Feb. 15	at Texas (SEC)	Austin, Texas | Moody Center
Feb. 18/19	Vanderbilt (SEC)	Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center
Feb. 22	at Alabama (SEC)	Tuscaloosa, Ala. | Coleman Coliseum
Feb. 25/26	at Oklahoma (SEC)	Norman, Okla. | Lloyd Noble Center
March 1	Auburn (SEC)	Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center
March 4/5	LSU (SEC)	Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center
March 8	at Missouri (SEC)	Columbia, Mo. | Mizzou Arena

There are a few midweek games during SEC play that have not been finalized yet. Those include Georgia, Texas A&M, Ole Miss, Tennessee, Vanderbilt, Oklahoma, and LSU. All of these games will either be on a Tuesday or Wednesday this season once announced.

Likely to be one of the most sought-after tickets in all of college basketball this season will be when the Arkansas Razorbacks make their way to Lexington. The event will come on Saturday, February 1st, for the return of former Kentucky Head Coach John Calipari. If I am a betting man, I would be willing to say that will be quite an expensive ticket, so you better start saving now for it. They only play once in the regular season — so no trip to Fayetteville — and it’s going to be must-see television.

Overall, I like the schedule when I look at it as a whole. However, I do think it will be a challenging one for Mark Pope in his debut season. Duke, Gonzaga, and Ohio State will be difficult games in their own before getting into three months of SEC play after the New Year.

Also, the conference — known for being a football powerhouse — continues to improve year after year in basketball. Kentucky will have a lot of tough road games to come this season, including but not limited to at Tennessee, at Alabama, and at Mississippi State. Those usually come with nail-biting performances and if Kentucky can manage to not let one slip along the way it will help them come the conference tournament.

The ‘Cats will hopefully ride into Nashville again this March with a lot to prove, with the official date of the SEC Tournament coming on March 12-16.

Here’s to a new era. Let’s navigate it together.