Kentucky, ranked ninth in the preseason polls, welcomes top-ranked Purdue to Lexington in what should be a showcase of national championship contenders. Due to a new NCAA rule, Division I teams can now play each other in open exhibition games, and UK head coach Mark Pope immediately went for a marquee opponent.
“This is an incredibly important data collection moment for us and it’s unbelievable that we get to do this against this Purdue team and Matt (Painter). If he’s not the best coach in college basketball, he’s got to be right up there.”
Pope has mentioned how competitive this particular team is during his preseason media opportunities. When asked if he would be trying to win the game rather than experimenting with lineups, Pope’s answer was quick and direct.
“Yes. The answer is yes, especially with this group,” Pope said. “The group is just hard-wired that way.”
Having said that, Pope knows that there will be a lot to be learned from Friday’s game. After practicing against each other for so long, the Cats finally get to play someone else. And it just happens to be the number one team in the country.
“For us, you get this chance to go get this really in-depth look at who we are right now,” Pope said. “And so we’re going to take full advantage of that while doing everything we can to win, but still not leave anything on the table in terms of learning about ourselves.”
This is one of the most anticipated exhibition games in the history of Kentucky basketball. In 1982 and 1987, the Cats faced the Soviet Union’s Olympic team during the Cold War Era. Those Soviet teams featured the likes of Arvydas Sabonis and Sarunas Marciulonis, who both went on to play in the NBA.
Kentucky has won 33 consecutive exhibition games, including two last year in Pope’s first year. However, Friday’s game will be a much bigger challenge than anything UK has faced in exhibition action lately. That’s part of what makes this perhaps the most anticipated exhibition game in program history.
The Kentucky men’s basketball program has been playing exhibition games since at least 1935, when they faced the Bracken County Area All-Stars in Augusta.