The long awaited return of the Indiana vs. Kentucky basketball series will be a primetime affair.
The Hoosiers and Wildcats will tip at 7:30 p.m. ET on Saturday evening, Dec. 13. The game will be aired to a national audience on ESPN.
This first of a four-game deal between the border rivals will be held at Rupp Arena in Lexington, Ky.
The series renewal was agreed to when Mike Woodson was the head coach, but it’s being inherited by Darian DeVries.
“We want to make sure we do a great job of getting ourselves ready for Big Ten play and challenging ourselves before we start that,” DeVries said when asked about scheduling nonconference games.
Indiana and Kentucky last played a game on campus in 2011. That was of course the year Christian Watford made a 3-point shot at the buzzer to beat the No. 1 Wildcats to set off a court storm for the ages.
Indiana vs. Kentucky is a series that dates back to 1924. The programs have met 57 times, including every year from 1969 through 2011. From 1992 to 2006 the teams played at neutral sites (Indianapolis and Louisville) with the crowd split roughly 50/50.
The program’s last meetings have come in the 2012 and 2016 NCAA Tournaments, with IU winning the most recent contest. Kentucky leads the all-time series, 32-25.
The 14-year regular season lapse is the longest in the series since the two college basketball bluebloods went 21 years between regular season encounters from 1944 to 1965.
IU and Kentucky have agreed to the following four games series:
Dec. 13, 2025, Rupp Arena, Lexington
Dec. 27, 2026, Lucas Oil Stadium (IU home game)
Dec. 18, 2027, Rupp Arena, Lexington
Dec. 16, 2028, Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall, Bloomington
For Indiana’s complete 2025-26 schedule, GO HERE:
For complete coverage of IU basketball, GO HERE.
The Daily Hoosier –“Where Indiana fans assemble when they’re not at Assembly”
- Find us on Facebook: thedailyhoosier
- You can follow us on Twitter: @daily_hoosier
- Seven ways to support completely free IU coverage at no cost to you.
