One of the great rivalries in SEC basketball is between the University of Florida and the University of Kentucky. While other programs have come and gone over the past few years, the Gators and the Wildcats have remained consistent at the top of the conference.
So it was a bit of a slap in the face to Florida and Kentucky fans when the SEC reworked their conference schedule in 2025, and the two squads only played once.
Thankfully, that looks like it will get fixed heading into the 2026 campaign.
Florida and Kentucky to play each other twice in 2026
Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports took to social media today to report that, according to his sources, Florida and Kentucky will play each other twice in 2026 in basketball.
The schedule was revised in 2025 to accommodate the addition of Texas and Oklahoma to the SEC, resulting in 16 teams in the conference. Teams were only granted a home-and-home with three other teams and played everyone else in the conference just once.
In Florida's case, they were given home-and-homes with Tennessee, Georgia, and South Carolina.
This meant Florida took a trip to Lexington to open SEC play, which turned out to be a thrilling game that was one of Florida's only four losses on the season.
But it also meant that Florida didn't get a return home game with the Wildcats, which is one of the most hyped games every year in the O'Dome.
Of course, if this change does happen, it comes during the cycle when Florida would have had a home game anyway against Kentucky in 2026, but it makes for more entertaining basketball than having to play South Carolina twice.
This year's contest against Kentucky will have added juice to it. Florida is coming off winning a national title and firmly inserted itself into the conversation of being a modern blueblood in basketball.
Add in the backdrop of Denzel Aberdeen transferring to Kentucky and his parting words, and there will be no love lost between the two sides in 2026.