In 2009, John Calipari came to Lexington as a hero. On February 1, he could return as a villain.
Calipari will make his return to Rupp Arena on Feb. 1 when Arkansas takes on Kentucky, according to the 2024-25 SEC men's basketball schedule released Tuesday.
Calipari led Kentucky to the national title in 2012 and spent more than a decade with the Wildcats before his time in Lexington ended in April following a tumultuous run that included a pair of first-round exits in the NCAA tournament over the past three years. This will be the only regular-season matchup between Calipari’s Arkansas team and Mark Pope’s Wildcats in the 2024-25 season.
Both coaches quickly regrouped in their new homes. Former five-star recruit DJ Wagner followed Calipari from Kentucky to Arkansas, where former Florida Atlantic star Johnell Davis also joined. Pope also assembled his first Kentucky team with high-level transfers, including former San Diego State star Lamont Butler.
This will be one of the biggest games in college basketball next season. And arguably the most energetic. When former Kentucky head coach Rick Pitino, then the head coach at Louisville, made another trip to Rupp Arena in 2015, he was accused of making an obscene sign to the crowd, a charge he denied after the game.
Calipari is likely to face similar hostility in his first game back after back-to-back losses to Saint Peter's and Oakland in the opening rounds of two of the past three NCAA tournaments left a sour taste for Kentucky fans.
There are other big games on the schedule, too. Texas and Oklahoma will begin their first SEC seasons with road games on Jan. 4 against Texas A&M and Alabama, respectively.
The Crimson Tide, backed by Wooden Award candidate Mark Sears, will play crucial league road games at Kentucky on Jan. 18 and Auburn on March 8, which could impact both the team's SEC finish and postseason seeding for an Alabama team with national title aspirations.
But Calipari's return to Rupp Arena will be the SEC's marquee event.
“Kentucky is the bluest of all,” Calipari said after being introduced in Fayetteville in April. “There are only a few schools like that, and I'm embarrassed to tell you that… Arkansas is one of them.”
