Kansas and Kentucky to meet in 2019 SEC/Big 12 Challenge in Lexington
IRVING, Texas – Kansas and Kentucky will continue their rich rivalry on Saturday, Jan. 26, 2019, in Lexington, Kentucky, in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge, the two conferences and ESPN announced Thursday.
For the fourth-straight year, all games in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge will be played in one day. ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU will combine to televise the contests of the sixth-annual event matching every Big 12 squad with 10 members from the Southeastern Conference (SEC). Each league will host five games. In addition, ESPN’s College GameDay will originate from a to-be-determined site of one of the day’s matchups.
This will be the fifth-straight season Kansas and Kentucky have met and the seventh time since 2011-12. Kansas has won the last three meetings, including last year’s Champions Classic, 65-61 on Nov. 14, 2017, in Chicago. KU won the previous two battles as part of the SEC/Big 12 Challenge: 90-84 overtime in 2016 in Allen Fieldhouse and 79-73 in 2017 at Rupp Arena.
The Kansas-Kentucky series dates back to 1950 and UK leads 22-9. In 2011-12, the two teams met twice with Kentucky claiming both wins: 75-65 in the Champions Classic at Madison Square Garden and 67-59 in the NCAA title game in New Orleans. On Nov. 18, 2014, then-No. 1 Kentucky defeated Kansas 72-40 in the Champions Classic in Indianapolis. Prior to 2011-12, the two teams last met in the second round of the 2007 NCAA West Regional in Chicago with Kansas defeating Kentucky, 88-76. The two teams had a home-and-home series in 2005 and 2006 with KU winning both in Lexington 65-59 on Jan. 9, 2005, and 73-46 the following season (Jan. 7, 2006) in Allen Fieldhouse. Kansas’ single-game record of 150 points came against Kentucky in a 150-95 win over Rick Pitino’s Wildcats on Dec. 9, 1989, in Lawrence. Kansas coach Bill Self is 6-4 against Kentucky, 6-3 while at Kansas. Kentucky coach John Calipari is 3-6 versus Kansas.
Kansas is 4-1 in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge, having split with Florida in 2013-14 and 2014-15 as both teams claimed home victories. KU swept Kentucky in 2015-16 in Allen Fieldhouse and 2016-17 in Rupp Arena. The Jayhawks defeated former Big 12 foe Texas A&M, 79-68, in the 2018 SEC/Big 12 Challenge in Allen Fieldhouse. Dating back to 2007, Kansas is 7-2 in conference challenges (1-1 vs. Arizona, 2-0 vs. UCLA, 1-1 vs. Florida, 2-0 vs. Kentucky and 1-0 vs. Texas A&M).
Big 12 teams are 29-21 (.580) in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge. In the first four years of the event, the Challenge trophy remained in the Big 12 office. The Big 12 won it the first three seasons and the leagues split the 10 games in 2017 (in case of a tie, the trophy stays with the conference that won it the previous season). The SEC won the fifth season of the Challenge in 2017-18.
2019 Big 12/SEC Challenge – Saturday, January 26
KANSAS at Kentucky
Alabama at Baylor
Iowa State at Ole Miss
Kansas State at Texas A&M
Vanderbilt at Oklahoma
South Carolina at Oklahoma State
Florida at TCU
Texas at Georgia
Arkansas at Texas Tech
West Virginia at Tennessee
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