I’ve always considered the Kentucky-Indiana rivalry a natural one that should be on each team’s non-conference schedule. That all changed in 2011.
That’s when the Hoosiers stunned top-ranked Kentucky at the time, and the Indiana contingent stormed the court, which led to a nine-year hiatus of the series. The two teams split a pair of games in the NCAA Tournament, with Kentucky defeating the Hoosiers at the Georgia Dome in 2012, while Indiana toppled the Wildcats in Des Moines, Iowa four years later in 2016.
Although Kentucky’s basketball schedule is not even close to completion, a four-year renewal of the series will begin on Dec. 20 when the Hoosiers take the short trek from Bloomington to Lexington. The two teams will play each other at Lucas Oil Stadium four days before New Year’s Eve in 2026, followed Indiana’s return visit to Rupp Arena on Dec. 18, 2027. The Wildcats will then play the Hoosiers at Assembly Hall on Dec. 16, 2028.
As he should, Kentucky coach Mark Pope embraces the return of the rivalry.
“I love everything about it,” Pope said. “I think these rivalries are really special in college basketball. I think this rivalry has an incredible history. I think it’s great for college basketball. There’s nothing about it that’s not great. I’m excited about it.”
During Pope’s tenure as a player, the Wildcats went 2-0 against the Hoosiers, including a thrilling 89-82 triumph at the RCA Dome in Indianapolis in 1995. Kentucky topped the Hoosiers 73-70 at Freedom Hall in Louisville the previous season.
“I have such beautiful memories of Kentucky-Indiana in the RCA Dome and looking up in the arena and seeing the aisleway where it was split, where it was all blue/white all across the arena on one side and all red and white on the other side of the stadium,” he said.
The series dates back to 1924 and has featured some memorable games. Fifty years ago, the Wildcats ended Indiana’s undefeated dream season with a 92-90 victory in the NCAA Mideast Regional finals that sent the Wildcats to the Final Four. The Wildcats finished runner-up after losing to UCLA in John Wooden’s last game.
A year later, the Hoosiers ran the table and went 32-0 to win the national title. Indiana’s two-year 63-1 run may never be replicated. It was the Wildcats who put a dent in the Hoosiers’ hopes for back-to-back undefeated seasons.
Looking back on the series, I can still remember late coaches Joe B. Hall and Bobby Knight chatting up the rivalry long before the “Dream Game” ushered in the yearly Kentucky-Louisville series. Border rivalries are fun and the Kentucky-Indiana series should have never ended.
Former Kentucky coach John Calipari favored neutral-site games as opposed to home-and-home rivalries, which took away from premium non-conference games at Rupp Arena. Prior to the pandemic, fans didn’t mind visits to places such as Las Vegas to see a blueblood contest, but since that time, fans aren’t as willing to spend the money during the regular season.
It’s time to bring back big-time traditional home-and-home rivalries and the renewal of the Kentucky-Indiana series is a good place to start.
Keith Taylor is sports editor of Kentucky Today, where this column first appeared.