The 2025–26 Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball team represented the University of Kentucky during the 2025–26 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Wildcats, founding members of the Southeastern Conference, played their home games at Rupp Arena and were led by Mark Pope in his second season as head coach for the Wildcats.

Previous season The Wildcats finished the 2024–25 season with a record of , in SEC play to finish in a 3-way tie for seventh place in the SEC. The Wildcats earned a number six seed in the SEC tournament, they won the second-round game against Oklahoma then lost to Alabama in the quarterfinals. They received an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament where the Wildcats made it to the Sweet 16 by defeating Troy, 76–57, in the first round and Illinois, 84–75, in the second round. The Wildcats lost to rival Tennessee, 78–65, in the Sweet Sixteen, finishing the season with an overall record of 24–12.

Offseason Departures Kentucky had 5 departures from the 2025 team that were lost to exhausted eligibility. On March 31 Kerr Kriisa announced his entry into the NCAA transfer portal. On April 8 Kriisa committed to play for Cincinnati. On April 22 Travis Perry put his name in the transfer portal. On May 4 Perry committed to play for SEC rival Ole Miss.

Name Number Pos. Height Weight Year Hometown Reason for departure 4 G 6'7" 206 Senior Washington Heights, NY Graduated 1 G 6'2" 204 Senior Moreno Valley, CA Graduated 7 F 6'10" 227 Senior West Chester, PA Graduated 77 G 6'3" 190 Senior Tartu, Estonia Transferred to Cincinnati 11 G 6'1" 185 Freshman Eddyville, KY Transferred to Ole Miss 2 G 6'6" 191 Senior Ada, OK Graduated 22 C 7'0" 265 Senior Nottingham, England Graduated

Incoming transfers Prior to the end of the 2025 season Kentucky received its first transfer commitment for the next season from forward Kam Williams, who transferred from Tulane, on March 29. On April 5 guard Jaland Lowe, transferring from Pittsburgh, committed to play for Kentucky. Two days later on April 7 former Alabama forward Mouhamed Dioubate became the third transfer commitment. One day later, one of the top forwards in the portal, former Arizona State forward Jayden Quaintance committed. Quaintance was previously a signee with Kentucky in the 2024 class, but decommitted once former coach John Calipari became the Arkansas head coach. On April 21 former Florida guard Denzel Aberdeen committed. The last member of the transfer class is center Reece Potter, who committed on May 5 after transferring from Miami (OH). This years team, had a high NIL (Name Image and Likeness) value, of around $22M.

Name Num Pos. Height Weight Year Hometown Previous college 1 G 6'5" 180 Senior Orlando, FL Transferred from Florida 23 F 6'7" 215 Junior Flushing, NY Transferred from Alabama 15 G 6'1" 180 Junior Missouri City, TX Transferred from Pittsburgh 21 F 6'10" 225 Sophomore Cleveland, OH Transferred from Arizona State 33 F 7'1" 215 Junior Lexington, KY Transferred from Miami (OH) 3 F 6'8" 190 Sophomore Lafayette, LA Transferred from Tulane

Class of 2025 signees

Roster

Schedule and results

!colspan=12 style=""| Exhibition

!colspan=12 style=""| Non-conference regular season

!colspan=12 style=""| SEC regular season

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Rankings

References