Kentucky basketball schedule (UK basketball): full November slate, key non-conference tests, and early SEC dates

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Kentucky basketball schedule

The UK basketball schedule for 2025–26 opens with a home-heavy November that should help the Kentucky basketball rotation settle before marquee non-conference showdowns and the SEC grind. Below is a clean, fan-friendly look at the next stretch, with times in ET and UK (GMT) for easy planning.

UK basketball schedule — November & early December (ET / UK time)

Tue, Nov 4 — Nicholls State at Kentucky — 7:00 p.m. ET / 12:00 a.m. GMT (Nov 5)
Fri, Nov 7 — Valparaiso at Kentucky — 7:00 p.m. ET / 12:00 a.m. GMT (Nov 8)
Tue, Nov 11 — Kentucky at Louisville — 8:00 p.m. ET / 1:00 a.m. GMT (Nov 12)
Fri, Nov 14 — Eastern Illinois at Kentucky — 7:00 p.m. ET / 12:00 a.m. GMT (Nov 15)
Tue, Nov 18 — Michigan State at Kentucky — 6:30 p.m. ET / 11:30 p.m. GMT
Fri, Nov 21 — Loyola (MD) at Kentucky — 7:00 p.m. ET / 12:00 a.m. GMT (Nov 22)
Wed, Nov 26 — Tennessee Tech at Kentucky — 7:00 p.m. ET / 12:00 a.m. GMT (Nov 27)
Tue, Dec 2 — North Carolina at Kentucky — 9:30 p.m. ET / 2:30 a.m. GMT (Dec 3)
Fri, Dec 5 — Gonzaga at Kentucky — 7:00 p.m. ET / 12:00 a.m. GMT (Dec 6)
Tue, Dec 9 — NC Central at Kentucky — 7:00 p.m. ET / 12:00 a.m. GMT (Dec 10)

Schedule subject to change.

Marquee non-conference games on the Kentucky basketball schedule

Michigan State (Nov 18): A physical litmus test for UK’s backcourt decision-making and defensive boards.
North Carolina (Dec 2): Classic blue-blood measuring stick—tempo control and foul discipline will loom large.
Gonzaga (Dec 5): Frontcourt spacing battle; Kentucky must defend the arc without surrendering slips and cuts.
Indiana (Dec 13): A rivalry revival feel later in December—shot creation in late clock usually decides it.

Early SEC dates to circle

Sat, Jan 3 — Kentucky at Alabama — 12:00 p.m. ET / 5:00 p.m. GMT
Wed, Jan 7 — Missouri at Kentucky — 7:00 p.m. ET / 12:00 a.m. GMT (Jan 8)
Sat, Jan 10 — Mississippi State at Kentucky — 8:30 p.m. ET / 1:30 a.m. GMT (Jan 11)
Wed, Jan 14 — Kentucky at LSU — 7:00 p.m. ET / 12:00 a.m. GMT (Jan 15)
Sat, Jan 17 — Kentucky at Tennessee — 12:00 p.m. ET / 5:00 p.m. GMT

These early league games stack travel and physical opponents, so UK’s depth and turnover control will be stress-tested right away.

What to expect from UK basketball in this opening stretch

Rotation settling: November’s home tilt lets the staff experiment with guard pairings and frontcourt minutes without hostile-road noise every night. Expect two or three lineups to emerge by mid-month.

Rebounding & rim pressure as identity: If Kentucky wins the glass and earns a free-throw edge, most of these November dates tilt big-blue. Watch second-chance points and paint touches as nightly barometers.

Threes vs. twos math: The Spartans, Tar Heels, and Zags punish slow closeouts. For UK, balanced shot profiles—inside-out kick threes plus downhill drives—should keep efficiency stable even when jumpers wobble.

Freshman composure checkpoints: The Louisville trip (Nov 11) and Michigan State (Nov 18) are ideal early gauges for late-game poise and baseline-out-of-bounds execution.

Quick fan planner

Home nights to pack Rupp: Nov 18 (Michigan State), Dec 2 (North Carolina), Dec 5 (Gonzaga).
Travel-friendly tip windows: Dec 20 (neutral-style midday window), Jan 3 at Alabama (early afternoon ET).
UK (GMT) viewers: Many November home games start just after midnight—brew the coffee for the blue-blood showdowns.

Bookmark this Kentucky basketball schedule and check back for any tweaks week to week. Early momentum in November can snowball into a favorable January seed line—and these non-conference tests will tell us exactly how high this UK team’s ceiling sits.