Kentucky’s nonconference home schedule for 2026-27 just got a whole lot better.
Wichita State is the final addition to the Wildcats’ slate, and that matters because this is not some throwaway buy-game opponent rolling into Rupp Arena on Nov. 27. The Shockers went 24-12 last season, and they bring enough heft to give Kentucky something meaningful to chew on on the Friday after Thanksgiving.
That’s especially welcome in a home non-league lineup that, outside of Louisville, does not exactly jump off the page. Of the 10 nonconference teams Kentucky will host at Rupp in 2026-27, only four finished above .500 last season: James Madison at 18-15, Wichita State at 24-12, Appalachian State at 19-13 and Louisville at 24-11.
And if Kentucky and Wichita State are any indication, this one should have some bite.
The two programs have met only twice, but both meetings came in the NCAA Tournament and both were instant classics. In 2014, Kentucky and Wichita State played what was easily the best NCAA Tournament game I’ve ever seen in person.
Gregg Marshall’s Shockers came into the round of 32 in St. Louis unbeaten at 35-0 and seeded No. 1 in the Midwest Region. John Calipari’s Wildcats, starting five true freshmen, arrived at 25-10.
Wichita State opened the second half by pushing its lead to nine, 40-31, on a Cleanthony Early 3-pointer. Kentucky answered, kept pressing and finally seized the lead for good at 73-71 when James Young drilled a jumper from right of the top of the key with 1:40 left.
Even then, nothing was settled until the final seconds. Fred VanVleet had a clean look at a 3-pointer from the top of the key just before the buzzer, but he missed, and Kentucky escaped 80-78.
The level of play in that game was outrageous. Wichita State had its undefeated season spoiled despite shooting 55% from the field and getting 31 points and seven rebounds from Early.
Three years later, Kentucky and Wichita State met again in the round of 32, this time in Indianapolis, and the style was completely different. The Wildcats’ 65-62 win in 2017 was a grind from start to finish, decided by a late defensive stand Kentucky fans still remember as a “block party.”
With Kentucky up 63-62, Malik Monk blocked a potential go-ahead jumper from Shaquille Morris with 14 seconds left. Then, with the Cats holding a 65-62 edge, Bam Adebayo rejected what would have been a game-tying 3-pointer by Landry Shamet just before the buzzer.
Both coaches from those tournament battles later had rough endings at their schools.
Marshall resigned at Wichita State in November 2020 after the university commissioned an investigation into alleged verbal abuse of players. He left as the program’s all-time winningest coach at 331-121 from 2007 through 2020, with seven NCAA Tournament trips and a Final Four run in 2013.
Calipari’s Kentucky tenure also faded out. In his final four seasons from 2020-21 through 2023-24, UK went 1-4 in SEC Tournament play and 1-3 in the NCAA Tournament. After the Wildcats were bounced by No. 14 seed Oakland in the 2024 NCAA Tournament, Calipari left for Arkansas.
Now both programs are trying to climb back toward the level they reached in the 2010s.
Mark Pope, who is 46-26 overall and 20-16 in the SEC at Kentucky, will be in a pivotal third season as Calipari’s successor in 2026-27.
On the other side, Paul Mills will be entering his fourth year at Wichita State. Mills, who led Oral Roberts to the Sweet 16 in 2021, has steadily pushed the Shockers upward, from 15 wins to 19 to 24 over his first three seasons.
Wichita State is expected to return 10 players from last season’s 24-12 team, which reached the finals of The American Conference Tournament and the quarterfinals of the NIT.
The core includes 7-foot-2, 265-pound Will Berg, who averaged 8.8 points and 8.1 rebounds, and 6-5 redshirt sophomore wing TJ Williams, who posted 8.7 points and 5 rebounds. The Shockers also added transfer guards Jordan Frison from Chattanooga, who averaged 16.4 points, 3.3 rebounds and 4 assists while shooting 55.7% from the field, and Jahari Long from George Mason, who put up 12.2 points, 3.3 rebounds and 4 assists on 45.4% shooting.
They also brought in former Evangel Christian big man Cyr Malonga through the transfer portal. The 6-11, 239-pound Malonga averaged 3.7 points and 2.5 rebounds last season at New Mexico State.
So when Wichita State walks into Rupp on the Friday after Thanksgiving, Kentucky should be getting a real test, not a placeholder.
If the matchup lives up to the first two meetings, Black Friday in Lexington ought to be a good one.
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