Kentucky is looking forward to the opportunity to play #1 Purdue next week

Kentucky basketball is getting set to begin the 2025-26 season real soon, but before that, they'll get as good of a test as they can when the #1 team in the country, Purdue, comes to town next Friday for an exhibition following the Blue-White team scrimmage tonight. It's going to be electric, as Kentucky fans will get something they don't normally get, a clash with one of the best teams in the country before the season even starts.

This is such a unique opportunity, as fans and coaches will get to learn a lot about their team, and Mark Pope says he and the team are excited for the big test they have coming into Rupp Arena, a "gift" as he calls it. Thanks to a new NCAA rule that permits Division l programs to play each other in the preseason, this opportunity is able to happen.

"My expectation is that Rupp's going to be on fire, and our guys going to be super nervous, and it's going to be their first time with this group ever being together on the floor. I expect that we're going to see things where we shake our head in disbelief that that like, what were we thinking? And I think we're going to shake our head and be like, that was amazing. ...It is such a gift to college basketball players. I'm so grateful to the NCAA and all the committees that are allowing us now to play Division 1 opponents in the exhibition, the opportunity for us to go against the number one team in the country this early, before the season even starts, where we can still experience and try things and learn things about our team."

What will head coach Matt Painter and the veteran Boilermakers bring to Rupp Arena aside from the top number next to their name? Continuity and experience.

"They're the number one team because they have been together," Pope said. "Matt (Painter) could have probably not practiced once the entire summer and come into Rupp and put together an incredible product on the floor, because he one, oaches so well, and two, his guys know everything they do already. And so we're not just going against the number one team in the country, but we're going to go against the most experienced, most well prepared, well coached team in the country. And to get that data in the preseason, before you're actually playing real games is a gift, and even more important for BBN, for our fan base, which, you know, there's no words to describe them."

In a new era of exhibition games, fans will get the opportunity to see more of these type of highly-anticipated preseason games in the years to come, and BBN will get to see their Wildcats in a preseason marquee matchup next week. There's no better test for any team than playing against the #1 team in college basketball.