Kentucky is ice cold in the Champions Classic and against Duke. Can Pope change that too?

Everything looks different around Kentucky Basketball lately, so, maybe, this year’s Champions Classic will look different, too. Kentucky needs to see a change at the annual four-team college basketball showcase, where the Wildcats are 5-8 in 13 Champions Classic games, tied with Michigan State for the worst record of the participating teams.

Champions Classic Head-To-Head Records

	Duke	Kansas	Kentucky	Michigan State
vs. Duke	–	3–1	1–3	1–4
vs. Kansas	1–3	–	2–3	2–2
vs. Kentucky	3–1	3–2	–	2–2
vs. Michigan State	4–1	2–2	2–2	–
Total	8–5	8–5	5–8	5–8

The Champions Classic was a fantastic event in its early days. In the inaugural year at Madison Square Garden, Kentucky’s 2012 national championship team beat Kansas in the second game on the 2011-12 schedule. All five Kentucky starters–Marquis Teague, Doron Lamb, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Terrence Jones, and Anthony Davis–scored in double figures, led by Lamb’s 17 in his home city.

Three years later, the Wildcats beat Kansas by 32 points in Indianapolis, sparking an undefeated three-year run in the second rotation of the Champions Classic. Kentucky beat Kansas, Duke, and Michigan State by an average margin of 21.3 points in three wins from 2014 to 2016.

Things took a turn for the worse in Chicago in 2017, Kentucky’s first Champions Classic loss to Kansas. It has mostly been a bad experience for Big Blue Nation ever since.

Kentucky lost six of the last seven Champions Classic games

Kentucky has one win since sweeping the Champions Classic’s three-year cycle from 2014-2016. The Wildcats lost six of the next seven, including the last four of the John Calipari era. In the most recent heartbreak, the Wildcats blew a 14-point, second-half lead to Kansas. The year before that, Kentucky again blew a late second-half lead in a double-overtime loss to Michigan State.

Year	Opponent	Result	Score	Location
2023	Kansas	L	89 – 84	Chicago
2022	Michigan State	L	77 – 86 2 OT	Indianapolis
2021	Duke	L	71 – 79	New York
2020	Kansas	L	62 – 65	Indianapolis
2019	Michigan State	W	69 – 62	New York
2018	Duke	L	84 – 118	Indianapolis
2017	Kansas	L	61 – 65	Chicago
2016	Michigan State	W	69 – 48	New York
2015	Duke	W	74 – 63	Chicago
2014	Kansas	W	72 – 40	Indianapolis
2013	Michigan State	L	74 – 78	Chicago
2012	Duke	L	68 – 75	Atlanta
2011	Kansas	W	75 – 65	New York

Kentucky also has a losing streak in the Duke series

Many, including the oddsmakers in the desert, think Kentucky will extend its Champions Classic losing streak when the Wildcats play No. 6 Duke, featuring projected No. 1 overall pick Cooper Flagg, in Atlanta. A loss would follow the trend because Kentucky has an ugly modern-day record in the Duke series, too.

The Blue Devils won nine of the last 11 games against Kentucky going back to 1979. Kentucky’s only wins in the last 55 years were the 1978 national championship when The Goose Was Golden, the improbable comeback in the 1998 Elight Eight, and the time Tyler Ulis and Jamal Murray combined for 34 points in Kentucky’s only Champions Classic win against Duke in 2015.

Kentucky has not done well against Duke otherwise, especially at the Champions Classic. But Mark Pope brought drastic changes to UK Basketball. He’s been nearly close to perfect so far. He’s made all the right moves and lit the fan base on fire with excitement. Maybe he can keep the hot start going with changes to the way the Wildcats perform in the Champions Classic and against Duke.

Go Cats. Beat Duke. Stay hot, Pope.