Kentucky, Indiana to Revive CBB Series Starting with 2025 Season, John Calipari Says

Kentucky men's basketball coach John Calipari announced Wednesday the Wildcats have "agreed in principle" to restart an annual rivalry series against Indiana beginning with the 2025-26 season.

Calipari said further information will be provided at a later date as the deal with the Hoosiers is "at the administrative level now, so all the details will be worked out."

Kentucky and Indiana faced off in men's basketball for the first time in December 1924, a 34-23 Hoosiers victory. The schools met every season from 1969 through 2011.

The Wildcats and Hoosiers have met twice since that point, both times in the NCAA tournament. UK won a 2012 meeting in the Sweet 16 and IU came out on top in the 2016 second round.

Kentucky holds a 35-23 advantage in the all-time series.

Indiana coach Mike Woodson said in May he wanted to resume the series, even if it meant playing a yearly neutral-site contest rather than a standard home-and-home structure.

"It might not be Bloomington, Lexington, I don't know," Woodson said. "But however way we can get it done, I'll take it. So we've just got to figure that part of it out."

He added it would be special to play the games on the respective campuses, though.

"I'm going to stay on [Calipari's] heels about getting the Kentucky-Indiana series back on the table," Woodson said. "Because I just think over the years, man, that was a hell of a game, going to Lexington and them coming down to Bloomington."

Calipari didn't address whether home games were under consideration as part of his comments Wednesday at SEC media day.

Both Kentucky and Indiana head into the 2022-23 season inside the Top 15 of the Associated Press poll, with UK at No. 4 and IU at No. 13.

The storied programs will each open the new campaign Nov. 7, when the Wildcats host Howard at Rupp Arena and the Hoosiers welcome Morehead State to Assembly Hall.