John Calipari will face former UK assistant coach Kenny Payne for the first time Dec. 31. (Photo by Jeff Houchin)
If a report by Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports is correct, the date of the Kentucky-Louisville basketball game has been set for Dec. 31.
What is more important, though, is that Rothstein reported that the game would also be played in Rupp Arena.
Remember the teams were scheduled to play in Rupp Arena last season before COVID issues at Louisville cancelled the game. But also remember that the 2020 game in Louisville had only limited attendance — basically none — and then coach Chris Mack felt Louisville should be a do-over on that home game.
Obviously, new Louisville coach Kenny Payne and Kentucky coach John Calipari were able to settle this issue easily and my guess is you will have a Saturday afternoon game on New Year’s Eve — probably on CBS because the first matchup between Calipari and Payne, Calipari’s former assistant, will draw some national intrigue, especially if Louisville happens to land a commitment from D.J. Wagner.
Payne said several weeks ago that the rivalry would not ruin his friendship with Calipari or change his intention to win the UK-Louisville matchup.
“I love him but there will be a day where I want to beat his head in, and he’ll want to beat my head in,” Payne said about Calipari. “I love him. He’s a mentor and a friend and someone I learned so much from.”
“But also, we both are competitive men. We both want a culture of winning. That in no way will be the negative hatred of John Calipari for me. It will be a game that I will try to do everything in my power to help my team win. I hope I win by one, but we’ll see how it goes.”
Calipari is 11-3 against the Cardinals since 2010, including 6-0 in Rupp Arena. No doubt he will want to send a message to his former assistant and Louisville fans in this game.
Three other non-conference matchups and dates for those games have also been set for the 2022-23 season. Kentucky will play Michigan State in the Champions Classic Nov. 15 in Indianapolis, Michigan Dec. 4 in London and UCLA Dec. 17 in New York in the CBS Sports Classic.
5 Responses
"Uhm what was I thinking..I can’t believe I scheduled these
teams". Cals future comments.
Good one Grant … and you could be right
I think they should bring back the UKIT BUT instead of calling it the UKIT call it the Kentucky Invitational Tournament. The two major schools, UK and Louisville, would be in it every year but also invite two or four other Kentucky schools (i.e. Western, Eastern, Murray, Center, Georgetown, or others) instead of playing unknown schools from out of state. The tournament would still alternate between Louisville and UK.
I love that idea Ralph but doubt UK and Louisville could ever agree on anything like that
I like the date they agree on and plus it’s at Rupp..Go cats!!