Kentucky and UCLA will begin a home-and-home series in 2015 that will replace Kentucky’s series with North Carolina during that stretch.
The Kentucky-UNC series will resume in 2017.
Kentucky, North Carolina and UCLA are also part of the CBS Sports Classic which launches this year and also includes Ohio State. On Dec. 20 at the United Center, UCLA plays Kentucky and UNC gets Ohio State. The CBS Sports Classic will then move to the Barclays Center in Brooklyn in 2015 and to Las Vegas in 2016, when Kentucky will face North Carolina in that event.
“[UNC] wanted to take two years off because of that” event, Kentucky coach John Calipari said Friday, according to the Courier Journal. “We couldn’t take one year off, because it screws up our schedule, and you won’t believe this: This is all based on what we need. Don’t care about anybody else. You don’t want to play us, listen, don’t play us. So they take two years off; we’ll plug in UCLA for two years. North Carolina has already sent us a contract for after those two years.”
The Wildcats will host North Carolina Dec. at Rupp Arena in the last game in the series until 2017.
ESPN reported this week that Wildcats will play at UCLA in the 2015-16 season and host the Bruins at Rupp Arena in 2016, but a Kentucky spokesman told the Courier-Journal the schools are still only “in talks” on that series.
