We have the 2025-26 Kentucky WIldcats basketball season preview and full schedule breakdown for you. The Cats tip off year two under Coach Mark Pope on November 4th, 2025. They return some stars from last season’s Sweet 16 team in Trent Noah and Brandon Garrison and some transfer players that will make impacts early to include: Jaland Lowe (from Pitt) and Kam Williams (from Tulane) . No secret, Coach Pope’s goal is to bring #9 to Lexington, so we’ll dive into the Big Blue Reload for you below.
Big Blue Reload: 2025-26 Kentucky Wildcats Basketball Season Preview
Here’s the 2025-26 Kentucky Wildcats basketball season preview podcast for you. The Wildcats kickoff the regular season on November 4th, 2025. Year 2 for Coach Pope in the quest to bring #9 back to Lexington, Kentucky.
2025-26 Kentucky Basketball Schedule
Here’s the 2025-26 Kentucky Basketball schedule for you for the games that take place before the New Year and SEC play kicks off. You can get the complete 2025-26 UK Men’s basketball schedule and printable here from our other post. We also get into the key non-conference matchups for you here too.
| Date | Opponent | Time (ET) | TV |
| Nov. 4, 2025 | vs Nicholls | 7:00 PM | SECN+ |
| Nov. 7, 2025 | vs Valparaiso | 7:00 PM | SECN+ |
| Nov. 11, 2025 | @ Louisville | 8:00 PM | ESPN |
| Nov. 14, 2025 | vs Eastern Illinois | 7:00 PM | SECN+ |
| Nov. 18, 2025 | vs Michigan State (neutral – New York, NY) | 6:30 PM | ESPN |
| Nov. 21, 2025 | vs Loyola (MD) | 7:00 PM | SECN+ |
| Nov. 26, 2025 | vs Tennessee Tech | 7:00 PM | SEC Network |
| Dec. 2, 2025 | vs North Carolina | 9:30 PM | ESPN |
| Dec. 5, 2025 | vs Gonzaga (neutral – Nashville, TN) | 7:00 PM | ESPN2 |
| Dec. 9, 2025 | vs North Carolina Central | 7:00 PM | SEC Network |
| Dec. 13, 2025 | vs Indiana | 7:30 PM | ESPN |
| Dec. 20, 2025 | vs St. John’s (neutral – Atlanta, GA) | 12:30 PM | CBS |
| Dec. 23, 2025 | vs Bellarmine | 1:00 PM | SECN+ |
2026 Postseason Schedules for the Kentucky Wildcats
If you’re like me, you already like to start looking at the postseason schedules before we even get deep into the season for the Wildcats. The SEC Men’s basketball tournament is taking place in Nashville again this year (it’s going to be in Nashvegas for the next several years for those who got bored of Catlanta). Once that’s over, then it’s time for the 2026 edition of March Madness. Here’s the blank, printable bracket for the men’s NCAA Tournament for you. It should be a fun season.
