Skip to content

Ad Disclosure

Indiana reveals sites, dates for upcoming hoops series with rival Kentucky

Ethan Stone

By Ethan Stone

Published:

Indiana and Kentucky basketball haven’t met since 2016, but that’s set to change very soon.

The Hoosiers announced Tuesday that they have officially revived the rivalry matchup between the 2 historical hoops powerhouses and revealed the times and venues. UK and IU will play a 4-game series starting during the 2025-26 season.

Each squad will get 2 home games from the series, with 2 being played at Rupp Arena in Lexington, 1 being played at Assembly Hall and once more at Lucas Oil Stadium.

Here’s the dates for each matchup:

Dec. 20, 2025 – Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center, Lexington, Ky.
Dec. 27, 2026 – Lucas Oil Stadium, Indianapolis, Ind. (IU home game)
Dec. 18, 2027 – Rupp Arena Central Bank Center, Lexington, Ky.
Dec. 16, 2028 – Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall, Bloomington, Ind.

You can find the video the Hoosiers released Tuesday announcing the return of the rivalry:

There have been plenty of incredible moment in this series, including 2011’s shot by Christian Watford to down the No. 1 Wildcats at Assembly Hall:

The Hoosiers have won 2 of the past 3 despite Kentucky’s dominance across the sport in the 2010s. Indiana won the pair’s last contest from 2016, 73-67. However, Kentucky leads the all-time series 32-27.

Both coaches spoke about the matchup prior to Tuesday’s release. Here’s what each had to say about the rivalry renewed:

“This is a really important rivalry to our fans and the game of college basketball and we’re happy to bring it back,” John Calipari said. “Mike and I have been friends for years and I have the utmost respect for him as a coach and as a man. Let’s do this!”

And here’s Woodson’s quote: “This is a great day for our program and our fans. Indiana-Kentucky is one of the best rivalries in college basketball, with so many great games over the years. We worked hard to get this done, and I could not be happier to be playing Kentucky once again.”

Ethan Stone

Ethan Stone was an editor for his student newspaper at the University of Tennessee and is now a News Manager for Saturday Tradition.