Kentucky basketball's schedule is starting to take shape for the 2021-22 season. College basketball’s two all-time winningest programs will meet for the seventh time in eight seasons when the Wildcats travels to Kansas on Jan. 29 as a part of the annual Big 12/SEC Challenge. The full slate of games was announced Wednesday by the respective leagues.
It will mark the 33rd all-time meeting between the two schools and the ninth during the John Calipari era. The Wildcats own a 23-10 all-time record against the Jayhawks, but Kansas has won four of the last five meetings, including a 65-62 win in the Champions Classic last season. Kentucky last visited Allen Fieldhouse in 2016. The Jayhawks prevailed 90-84 in overtime.
In addition to Kansas, UK has already announced non-conference matchups vs. Duke on Nov. 9 in the Champions Classic in New York, a road game at Michigan on Dec. 4, a neutral-site meeting against Notre Dame on Dec. 11 and a matchup with North Carolina in the CBS Sports Classic on Dec. 18.
The 2022 slate of Big 12/SEC Challenge games will mark the ninth season of the annual event between the Southeastern Conference and the Big 12. Ten of the SEC's 14 teams will participate in the 2022 challenge against all 10 of the Big 12's institutions, with each conference hosting five games apiece. The four SEC teams not participating will play each other in conference games the same day.
All 10 games will be air across ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU and will be available on the ESPN app. Game times and network designations will be announced at a later date. ESPN’s College GameDay– the Saturday roadshow that discusses the top storylines of the college basketball season – will originate from one of the Challenge games.
UK is 4-3 all-time in the challenge but missed last season’s matchup slated to be against Texas inside of Rupp Arena due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
For the latest on the Wildcats, tune into BBN Tonight weeknights at 7:30 on LEX18 News or all the time on BBNTonight.com and the show's social media channels:
