By JOSH NEWMAN
Circle Jan. 30 on your calendar.
As part of the annual Big 12/SEC Challenge, the University of Kentucky will play the University of Kansas, it was announced on Thursday afternoon.
Tip-off for the matchup at Allen Fieldhouse, as well as the rest of the challenge slate below, will be announced at a later date.
Per usual, Kentucky and Kansas are expected to be among the nation’s best teams in 2015-16. The Widlcats return Alex Poythress, Tyler Ulis and Marcus Lee to join another highly-touted recruiting class that includes New Jersey star Isaiah Briscoe.
The Jayhawks will return the core of their 2015 Big 12 championship team, plus incoming recruits Carlton Bragg and Cheick Diallo. Both teams are among the top 10 in various early preseason national rankings.
The meeting with Kansas adds to what was already a super slate of nonconference games for the 2015-16 season. Kentucky is slated to play Duke in Chicago in the Champions Classic, South Florida in Miami in the inaugural Hoophall Miami Invitational, at UCLA in the first game of a home-and-home series, Ohio State at Barclays Center in the CBS Sports Classic, and Louisville in Rupp Arena.
Last season, Kentucky throttled Kansas, 72-40, in the Champions Classic.
2016 Big 12/SEC Challenge Matchups
Texas Tech at Arkansas
Oklahoma State at Auburn
West Virginia at Florida
Georgia at Baylor
Kentucky at Kansas
Oklahoma at LSU
Ole Miss at Kansas State
Tennessee at TCU
Iowa State at Texas A&M
Vanderbilt at Texas
