Top takeaways from Kentucky's 2022-23 complete schedule

At long last, the complete Kentucky men’s basketball schedule for the 2022-23 season is here.

The who, what, when, where and how for all 31 games were released on Tuesday, with the regular season set to feature 13 nonconference matchups and 18 in the Southeastern Conference. Opponents, dates, locations, tip-off times and television (or stream) partners, it’s all there for Big Blue Nation to devour at its earliest convenience.

What do you need to know about the schedule? KSR’s got a few takeaways to follow along with as you dissect it from top to bottom.

Let’s jump right in, shall we?

High-profile names home, away and neutral

Kentucky’s schedule features a strong mix of blue bloods and contenders, along with several intriguing matchups to round out nonconference play. And it’ll be a solid mix of home, away and neutral-site games.

At home, you get in-state rival Louisville and reigning national champion Kansas in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge (Jan. 28). You also get Yale (Dec. 10), an NCAA Tournament team in 2021-22, and another in-state program in Bellarmine (Nov. 29) — who won the 2022 ASUN title and would have been in the NCAA Tournament had bogus eligibility rules concerning schools jumping to Division I not been in play — at Rupp Arena.

On the road, you get the start of a home-and-home against Gonzaga, with the Wildcats playing in Spokane on Nov. 20. The Bulldogs list the game as a neutral site matchup despite the venue, Spokane Arena, being a mile away from Gonzaga’s campus and Kentucky traveling 2,150 miles away from its home campus. The game won’t be played at The Kennel — which, again, holds just 6,000 fans — but it’s still a road matchup.

As for the (real) neutral site games, the Wildcats are set to take on Michigan State in the State Farm Champions Classic in Indianapolis (Nov. 15), Michigan in London (Dec. 4) and UCLA in the CBS Sports Classic in New York (Dec. 17).

Kentucky’s roster is loaded with name-brand foes — and that’s not even counting the SEC slate.

11 teams coming off NCAA Tournament appearances

On that note, it should be pointed out that of the 26 opponents on Kentucky’s schedule, 11 of them are against teams coming off appearances in the 2022 NCAA Tournament.

Kansas won the national championship in 2022, while Arkansas made it to the Elite Eight and Gonzaga, Michigan and UCLA all made it to the Sweet 16. From there, Michigan State, Tennessee and Auburn all made it to the second round, while Alabama, LSU and Yale were all participants.

Elsewhere, Texas A&M made it to the NIT Championship Game, while Florida and Mississippi State also participated in the NIT, as well.

14 of 26 teams played postseason basketball in 2022, with only eight having losing records on the year.

To put the competition level in perspective, 12 of the 26 teams on the schedule finished inside the top-50 of the final NET and KenPom.com rankings, while 19 of the 26 finished inside the top 150. Kentucky will play seven teams ranked in the final AP or Coaches Polls last season.

In short, there’s a whole lot of talent there.

Interesting exhibition storylines

Calipari is known for bringing in opponents with ties to the Kentucky program and/or interesting storylines for exhibition matchups to open the season. This year will be no different.

The Wildcats will be taking on Missouri Western State in their first exhibition game on Oct. 30. It will be a homecoming for the coaching staff, as the Griffons are coached by former Kentucky basketball manager Will Martin, with former Wildcats Jon Hood and Perry Stevenson also serving as assistants.

Martin was a manager at UK when Calipari first arrived in Lexington, working with the team from 2009-13 — a run that included three Elite Eights, two Final Fours and one national championship. Hood played at Kentucky from 2009-14, while Stevenson suited up for the Wildcats from 2006-10.

As for Kentucky State, a strong connection to the Wildcats is featured on the roster — a twin connection. Kentucky freshman Chris Livingston’s fraternal twin brother, Cordell, is a freshman at the Division II school located just 30 minutes outside UK’s campus in Frankfort. He committed to the Thorobreds back in May, an opportunity to remain close to his twin brother. Now, the 6-foot, 175-pound guard will have the opportunity to play against him for the first time in college.

“I mean, that’s my twin brother, so we’re close,” Chris Livingston said back in June. “Being at the same school with each other ever since we were growing up, playing basketball with each other, we’re as close as twins as you could imagine to be.”

After years of teaming up together, they’ll be facing off against one another on Nov. 3.

Two new opponents (three including exhibitions)

While there are plenty of familiar faces, the 2022-23 schedule brings several new opponents for the program, as well.

Kentucky has never played Missouri Western State, the team’s first exhibition matchup. Among regular season opponents, Howard and Bellarmine are brand new foes for the Wildcats, as well, with the latter moving to the Division I ranks starting in 2020-21 with the ASUN.

Elsewhere, there are five schools on the schedule with just one head-to-head battle with the Wildcats and two with just two. Kentucky leads the all-time series vs. Gonzaga, South Carolina State, North Florida, Yale and Florida A&M 1-0, while the Wildcats are 2-0 against Kentucky State (exhibitions) and Duquesne.

Better get ready for streaming…

There is certainly no shortage of nationally televised matchups for Kentucky on the schedule (exhibition play included) with 14 games scheduled for ESPN or ESPN 2, 10 scheduled for SEC Network, five scheduled for CBS and one scheduled for ABC.

There will, however, be four stream-only games featured exclusively on SEC Network+ — two being regular-season matchups. Streaming on SECN+ will begin with the Blue-White Game on Oct. 22, followed by the exhibition matchup against Kentucky State on Nov. 3.

From there, Kentucky’s games vs. North Florida (Nov. 23) and Bellarmine (Nov. 29) will both be streamed exclusively on SECN+.

What does this mean? You guessed it, no traditional television broadcasts those four nights. You’ll only be able to see the games on smartphones, tablets, TV-connected devices (Roku, Apple TV, Chromecast, SmartTV, etc.), or via espn.com/watch. It’s part of the SEC’s broadcast agreement with ESPN, which gives schools two basketball games and one football game to be streamed live each season.

Last season, Kentucky basketball’s games against Albany and Central Michigan were streamed exclusively on SECN+ and ESPN+. This year, it will be North Florida and Bellarmine getting the stream-only treatment in the regular season.

See it all for yourself below: