UK Men's Basketball Schedule Finalized
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LEXINGTON, Ky. – The Kentucky men’s basketball team will host UCF for an exhibition on Wednesday, Oct. 28, the program announced on Friday, officially completing the Wildcats’ 2026-27 schedule.
With a new NCAA rule in place, the Wildcats will play three exhibition games this season, all of which will be held inside Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center. Kentucky will take on Little Rock on Oct. 16, Texas Tech on Oct. 23 and UCF on Oct. 28. Those contests will lead up to the regular-season opener, Nov. 3, against Manhattan.
Including the exhibition matchups, Kentucky is slated to play a total of 22 home games this season. The Cats will take on 15 NCAA Tournament teams from a year ago during the regular season, plus tournament qualifiers Texas Tech and UCF during the exhibition portion of the schedule.
UK’s schedule includes 12 games against teams ranked inside the top 25 of ESPN’s Way-Too-Early Top 25 rankings, including six at home. Five of those 12 games come against teams inside the top 10. The Cats will also take on six first-time opponents for the program this year.
Kentucky returns five players from its NCAA Tournament Round of 32 squad a year ago as Braydon Hawthorne, Malachi Moreno, Trent Noah, Reece Potter and Kam Williams are all back for the Wildcats. Moreno, an All-SEC Freshman Team selection, started 30 games for the Cats last season and led the team in rebounds per game (6.3), blocks per game (1.47) and field goal percentage (58.2%). Williams saw action in 24 games and made seven starts, despite missing 12 games with a broken foot. He matched the program’s record for most made 3s in a single game when he buried eight against Bellarmine. Noah appeared in 27 contests as a sophomore, twice scoring in double figures, including a career-high 16 points against Tennessee Tech. Both Hawthorne and Potter redshirted in 2025-26.
A well-regarded group of transfers also enters the fold for Kentucky in 2026-27, headlined by the nation’s leading 3-point shooter from a year ago, Milan Momcilovic. Momcilovic starred for Iowa State last season, averaging 16.9 points per game and making a school-record 136 3s while shooting 48.7 percent from deep. He was rated as a top three transfer this offseason by ESPN, 247 Sports and On3.
Joining Momcilovic in the transfer contingent are backcourt pieces Zoom Diallo, Jerone Morton and Alex Wilkins, along with frontcourt additions Franck Kepnang and Justin McBride. Wilkins and McBride were All-Conference selections at Furman and James Madison, respectively, while Diallo and Kepnang both arrive from the University of Washington and Morton returns to his hometown of Lexington after a season at Washington State.
This year’s team also features a trio of college basketball newcomers in Zyon Hawthorne, Ousmane N’Diaye and Mason Williams. Zyon is the younger brother of Braydon and played his final high school season at Huntington Prep. N’Diaye hails from Dakar, Senegal and has experience playing in Europe, most recently with Vanoli Cremona in Italy’s top division. Williams is the son of UK assistant Mo Williams, and averaged 15.1 points, 5.4 assists, 4.5 rebounds and 3.5 steals at Tennessee Collegiate Academy as a senior.
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