Louisville to Play Two Exhibition Games in Bahamas

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The Louisville men's basketball program is holding yet another summer foreign trip. The Cardinals announced Tuesday that they will play a pair of exhibition games down in the Bahamas as part of the 2026 Baha Mar Hoops Summer League later this July.

Below is the full press release from UofL:

"Louisville men’s basketball fans can gain an early look at a highly anticipated 2026-27 Cardinals squad when it plays two exhibition games against international competition as part of the 2026 Baha Mar Hoops Summer League this July at the Baha Mar resort, bdG Sports announced Tuesday.

The four-day trip runs July 27-30 with the Cardinals playing games on Tuesday, July 28 and Wednesday, July 29 against teams from The Bahamas. Both contests will take place at the Baha Mar Convention, Arts and Entertainment Center on-site at the resort.

Louisville’s schedule follows (Times are eastern and subject to change.)

Tuesday, July 28

Louisville vs. Bahamas – 2 p.m. ET

Wednesday, July 29

Louisville vs. Bahamas – noon

The trip marks the second time in three summers that Louisville head coach Pat Kelsey has brought his Cardinals team to the Baha Mar to participate in the event. With significant roster turnover in college basketball, NCAA rules now permit teams to take foreign tours every summer. Arkansas, Cincinnati, South Carolina, Texas A&M and Valparaiso were recently announced as other participants in the in the 2026 Baha Mar Hoops Summer League, which runs July 28-Aug. 10. However, NCAA rules still only permit teams to play against international competition.

“This is a business trip for our team,” said Kelsey. “The chances to get 10 additional practices and a pair of games under our belt before the school year begins is absolutely invaluable. When we played in the Baha Mar Hoops Summer League two years ago, we saw what a great benefit that extra court time could have on our team, and we are looking for a similar effect with this quick trip to Nassau.”

The new-look Cardinals boast one the nation’s best portal classes, featuring former Kansas center Flory Bidunga (13.3 points, 9.0 rebounds and 2.6 blocks), Oregon guard Jackson Shelstad (15.6 points, 4.9 assists),Arkansas wing Karter Knox (8.2 points, 4.5 rebounds) and Iowa forward Álvaro Folgueiras (8.4 points, 3.6 rebounds). Louisville returned guards Adrian Wooley and London Johnson and added freshmen Obinna Ekezie Jr., Boyuan Zhang and Isaac Ellis as the roster features nine newcomers total.

The fifth-annual event is managed by bdG Sports, a Kentucky-based sports and entertainment management firm which annually operates 20 collegiate men’s and women’s basketball games at Baha Mar each November.

“Interest in foreign tours has exploded this summer,” said Brooks Downing, founder and president of bdG Sports. ”With rosters largely turning over in today’s collegiate environment, combined with the significant Name, Image and Likeness investment in each roster, this is an affordable way to protect that investment and get a big head start on the new season.”

TICKETS, ROOMS & FAN PACKAGES

The trip serves as the first opportunity to catch the Cardinals in action while also enjoying the amazing Baha Mar resort. Louisville fans interested in attending can visit www.bahamarhoops.com/summer for information on tickets, rooms and VIP packages.

ABOUT BAHA MAR HOOPS

Each November around the Thanksgiving holiday, Baha Mar plays host to Baha Mar Hoops, one of the largest regular-season events in the sport of college basketball. Twenty NCAA Division I men’s and women’s teams visit the stunning resort each year to compete in one of three basketball tournaments. In total, 20 games will be played over an 11-day span.

Each August, the resort also holds the Baha Mar Hoops Summer League, offering NCAA teams exhibition games against international competition as part of a foreign tour. The resort has welcomed men’s basketball teams from Kentucky, Louisville, Nevada, Penn State, Rhode Island and Xavier for summer exhibition tours in recent years.

ABOUT BDG SPORTS

bdG Sports is a sports and entertainment leader with a dynamic and ever-growing event management portfolio with a cornerstone in basketball and professional golf and an expansive focus toward baseball. The firm boasts an event schedule that has delivered significant economic impact to multiple communities throughout North America and the Caribbean while featuring broadcasts to viewers across the globe.

In basketball, bdG has a lengthy history of producing premium college basketball content. From summer exhibition tours to multiple high-profile in-season tournaments and neutral-site events, bdG will contract more than 100 regular-season men’s and women’s Division I basketball games annually. It boasts the record for the largest hoops crowd in Nevada state history (Duke-Gonzaga 2021 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas), the second-most watched game since 2008 (Arkansas-Illinois on Thanksgiving Day 2024 with 5.1 million viewers) and one of the largest events in the sport, 20 men’s and women’s teams competing annually at Baha Mar Hoops. bdG is the only third-party operator which manages a conference tournament, assisting The Big West Men’s & Women’s Championships each March in Henderson, Nevada.

In professional golf, bdG owns and operates two season-opening Korn Ferry Tour tournaments, The Bahamas Golf Classic at Atlantis Paradise Island and The Bahamas Great Abaco Classic at The Abaco Club, both televised by the Golf Channel and featuring $1 million purses.

For NCAA baseball, bdG owns and operates the Atlantis Collegiate Baseball Series."

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