The 2025 Louisville-Kentucky basketball game will be the rivalry's earliest ever. Why?

AMELIA ISLAND, Fla.

Louisville and Kentucky basketball have played in November only twice across 57 meetings dating back to 1913.First, Nov.

26, 1983, when the game became an annual tradition.

Then Nov.

27, 1993.

Both matchups were in Lexington.The 2025-26 edition of the Battle of the Bluegrass will be the earliest ever Nov.

11.

Why? "I'm sure it's Louisville fault," UK coach Mark Pope joked during a Tuesday news conference in Lexington.

"I say that with all due respect to Pat (Kelsey).

He's incredible."There's no grand conspiracy at play, Kelsey told The Courier Journal on Monday at ACC spring meetings.

Just the typical challenge of assembling a schedule.

"Scheduling is hard," Kelsey said.

"It's like putting a square peg in a round hole, because what works for one school doesn't work for the other, and you've just got to negotiate through it."It's another edition of the Kentucky-Louisville rivalry.

It's gonna be fun this year."Pope agrees."Scheduling gets increasingly, increasingly complicated," he said.

"I think it was what worked out best.

...

I actually don't know how we got to the date.

More important people are dealing with those issues than me."This year's game will also be only the third on a Tuesday since the series became a fixture on the regular-season schedule in 1983.

U of L hosted both of those games: Jan.

2, 2001, and Dec.

31, 1996.

Saturday, obviously, has been the preferred option accounting for 33 of the 41 annual meetings.Twice since 1983 has the regular-season game been played on a Sunday or a Friday.

There's also been one on a Thursday and one on a Wednesday.The Cats hold a 40-17 edge in the series and have won 12 of the past 15 meetings.

The Cards' only victories during that stretch came at the KFC Yum! Center: Dec.

26, 2020; Dec.

21, 2016; and Dec.

29, 2012.The rest of Louisville's nonconference schedule includes a Dec.

6 game against cross-state rival Indiana at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, the second leg of a home-and-home series against Tennessee (set for Dec.

16 at Thompson-Boling Arena in Knoxville), the first of two neutral-site games against Cincinnati (this year at Heritage Bank Center, next year at Freedom Hall) and the long-awaited renewal of the Memphis rivalry at home (U of L and Memphis agreed to a six-year series after not having played each other since 2017).There should be another SEC foe in the mix, too, as part of the conference's annual showdown with the ACC.

Considering the Cards hosted Ole Miss in it last year, there's a good chance they have to hit the road in 2025-26.

Other announced games for UK's nonconference slate in 2025-26 include Michigan State (in the Champions Classic at Madison Square Garden on Nov.

18), Gonzaga (in Nashville on Dec.

5) and St.

John's, squaring off with former UK and U of L coach Rick Pitino in a CBS Sports Classic clash in Atlanta on Dec.

20.After hosting Miami in 2023 and heading to Clemson last year, Kentucky likely will welcome an ACC foe to Rupp Arena for this year's ACC/SEC Challenge.

Reach college sports enterprise reporter Payton Titus at [email protected], and follow her on X @petitus25.

Reach Louisville men's basketball reporter Brooks Holton at [email protected] and follow him on X at @brooksHolton.Reach Kentucky mens basketball and football reporter Ryan Black at [email protected] and follow him on X at @RyanABlack..oembed-frame {width:100%;height:100%;margin:0;border:0;}This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Why this year's Louisville-Kentucky basketball game is so early.

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