The dream of hosting the Kentucky Wildcats at the McCarthey Athletic Center is officially over, for now. After playing each of the last four seasons, Gonzaga an
Gonzaga forward Graham Ike shoots over Kentucky center Malachi Moreno during their game at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville Friday, Dec. 5, 2025. | Denny Simmons / The Tennessean / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images The dream of hosting the Kentucky Wildcats at the McCarthey Athletic Center is officially over, for now.and Kentucky will discontinue their yearly series, cancelling the remaining two games in a mutually agreed upon decision announced by both schools.
According to the release, the decision was made to "allow each program freedom to reevaluate future scheduling priorities, including conference obligations and nonconference opportunities.
" The two remaining games included a matchup at Rupp Arena in Lexington in 2026-27 and the first matchup between these two programs at the McCarthey Athletic Center in 2027-28. The series was originally announced on Oct. 6, 2022, on a video call between Mark Few and then Kentucky coach John Calipari at Rupp Arena.
Gonzaga won the first two matchups of the series, defeating Kentucky at the Spokane Arena on Nov. 20, 2022, 88-72, and then at Rupp on Feb. 10, 2024, 89-85, in a game that helped catapult Gonzaga to a strong finish after a slow start to the season. Mark Pope took over as Kentucky's head coach after that season, and led the 'Cats to a dramatic 18 point comeback victory over Gonzaga in overtime at Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle, 90-89, on Dec. 7, 2024.
The last game of the series took place on Dec. 5, 2025, when Gonzaga obliterated Kentucky, 94-59, at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville. All told Gonzaga went 3-1 against Kentucky with a +54 margin of victory, with the three wins all helping boost GU's nonconference resume in their final years as members of the West Coast Conference. Gonzaga and Kentucky have elected to discontinue their current scheduling series, per school release.
Zags were scheduled to visit Rupp Arena this fall and host the Wildcats at the Kennel next season to conclude the series. It's certainly disappointing Gonzaga won't get Kentucky at home, especially with the move to the Pac-12 resulting in GU having a whopping 16 nonconference games annually.
The Pac-12 will play a 16 game balanced conference schedule, and with college basketball expanding the regular season to a max of 32 games, Gonzaga seems like they would have had plenty of room for this matchup over the next two years. It's hard to ignore the fact that these games were scheduled at home for each team, when many teams have migrated toward playing as many neutral site games as possible to maximize profits in the NIL era.
, even without Kentucky in the mix. The Zags are slated to play Purdue in the season opener on Nov. 2, 2026 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, and will take on Michigan State Dec. 19 at Acrisure Arena in Palm Springs, CA. The big one is set for Feb. 20, when Gonzaga will meet Duke for the sixth time in program history, at Little Caesar's Arena in Detroit - the home of this year's Final Four.
Gonzaga also has a road game against Creighton as part of a home-and-home series that began last year, and is potentially going to play UCLA on a neutral floor after it was reported the two programs would continue their series. It is unclear if that game will take a year off or not, while Gonzaga also has an agreement to play Oregon in Seattle - either this year or next.
Gonzaga officially joins the Pac-12 on July 1, 2026, alongside Oregon State, Washington State, Texas State, and the five Mountain West defectorsAndy Patton is a diehard fan and alumnus of Gonzaga, graduating in 2013. He’s been the host of the Locked On Zags podcast covering Gonzaga basketball since 2021, and one of two co-hosts on the Locked On College Basketball podcast since 2022.
In addition to covering college basketball, Andy has dabbled in sports writing and podcasting across nearly every major sport dating back to 2017. He was a beat writer covering the Seattle Seahawks from 2017–2021 for USA TODAY, where he also spent one year each covering the USC Trojans and Oregon Ducks, and had a stint as the lead writer for College Sports Wire.
Andy has also written about the NBA, NHL, and MLB for various news outlets through TEGNA, including KREM in Spokane, CBS8 in San Diego, and KING 5 in Seattle. After stints in Spokane and Seattle, Andy is back in Oregon near his hometown with his wife, daughter, and dog.
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