Report: Kentucky basketball finalizing deal to host Western Kentucky in 2024-25

In Mark Pope’s first season as Kentucky head coach, it looks like the Wildcats will host in-state foe Western Kentucky as part of their 2024-25 non-conference schedule.

Matt Norlander of CBS Sports first reported news of a potential UK vs. WKU matchup Saturday morning, which would be the first matchup between the teams since they met in the 2021-22 season as part of a make-up game after both teams had schedule openings due to COVID cancellations.

Here was Norlander’s tweet revealing the news: “News: Kentucky is finishing a deal to host Western Kentucky at Rupp Arena next season, per sources.”

He added that the new Kentucky staff wanted to play against another team in the state, and it appears that opponent will be Western:

“It’s notable because the schools have only met seven times ever. Mark Pope + UK officials want to have at least one intra-Kentucky matchup for the fans in Pope’s first season.”

Kentucky vs. Western Kentucky will not be a standalone game, though, and Norlander said in a second tweet that the matchup will be part of a multi-team event hosted in Rupp Arena.

“Kentucky’s game vs. Western Kentucky will be part of a three-game MTE, sources said, with the dates still not set. All three games at Rupp Arena are expected to be vs. mid-majors, with one of the others likely to be vs. an HBCU program.”

Despite their close proximity, the Wildcats and Hilltoppers have rarely met on the basketball court, which made the December 2021 meeting pretty special, since it was the first since the two Bluegrass powers met in a No. 1 vs. No. 16 matchup in the first round of the NCAA Tournament back in 2012, when the Wildcats stormed to their only national championship under John Calipari.

That 2021 matchup slated Oscar Tshiebwe against the 7’5 Jamarion Sharp. If Sharp’s immense height was a concern going into the game, that idea was erased in short order by Big O, who set the Rupp Arena record with 28 rebounds in that game alone.

Heading into next season, both programs will have new head coaches manning the sidelines. Obviously, it’s Pope for Kentucky, but Western also had to hire a new leader when their head coach, Steve Lutz, left after just one season. In just three years as a head coach, Lutz has taken Texas A&M Corpus Cristi to two NCA Tournaments and then got WKU back to the dance for the first time in a while as well.

No wonder Oklahoma State decided to name him their new head coach this offseason.