Kentucky Wildcats Basketball Announces Unique Matchup with the Baylor Bears

The Kentucky Wildcats have announced that they will be playing the Baylor Bears in two non-conference games.

The first game will take place next season in December, when Baylor will travel to Lexington. The game will be nationally televised on CBS.

This will be a rematch of the Elite Eight matchup between the two teams in the 2012 NCAA tournament. The Wildcats went on to win that game 82-70 to advance to the Final Four before winning the national championship.

The unique aspect of this series will come in the 2013-14 season.

In December 2013, two Kentucky teams will travel to Dallas to face off against Baylor in Cowboys Stadium.

The first game will feature the Kentucky women’s basketball team versus the 2012 NCAA National Champions Baylor Lady Bears. Immediately following that game, the two schools’ men’s teams will play each other.

Kentucky head coach John Calipari said the following on his website about the series:

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In 2013-14, we’re going to pull off another of those ‘Only at Kentucky’ moments when we do a first-of-its-kind doubleheader.

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This will be an exclusive series featuring both the men's and women's champions of 2012 .

Tickets for the double-header will be split evenly between the two schools, and Calipari made it clear that “we hope to break the NCAA attendance record.”

The announcement comes a week after Baylor announced that it would cancel the remainder of its series with Mississippi State and after the NCAA committee made it clear on Selection Sunday that non-conference competition is important.

Calipari said, “When we schedule, I want to create experiences, not just games.”