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LEXINGTON — All it took was a phone call.
Kentucky basketball coach Mark Pope, when he broke down the roster with his staff, identified areas "where we might need to make some adjustments" heading into the 2026-27 season. Pope wanted an opponent that would test those possible shortcomings.
Enter Texas Tech, a team Pope faced during his time at BYU, when the squads squared off in the Big 12.
Pope reached out to Red Raiders coach Grant McCasland and they hammered out the details.
The result: UK will host TTU tonight at 7 p.m. in a preseason exhibition at Rupp Arena. Both teams are ranked.
"We had some tremendous battles," Pope said of the BYU/Texas Tech matchups. "We had wide swings in games, which was really fun. Texas Tech is a great environment to play in and coach in."
He holds McCasland in similarly high regard.
"I think he's one of the best coaches in the game," Pope said. "I think what he's done is really incredible, and I like the way that he does it."
Though the exhibition doesn't count toward either team's record, it'll pit ranked clubs against each other: Texas Tech is 16th in the USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll and No. 19 in the Associated Press Top 25, while UK is 23rd in both polls.
Pope can't wait.
"This Texas Tech team is a gravity team," he said. "They're a little bit like us: They shoot the ball incredibly well, which means you have to guard in space. There's going to be a lot of isolation feel to it, and seeing how our defensive rotations go is going to be important for us. They play with tremendous pace also. They'll push in transition. So our transition defense is going to be tested as well as a ton of other things, and they have really talented, veteran personnel. So it'll give us a chance to take a look at that."
Courier Journal sports reporter Ryan Black and sports columnist C.L. Brown are at Rupp Arena and will have live updates throughout the game — here and on X, formerly known as Twitter — and complete coverage after. You can follow them on X at @RyanABlack and @clbrownhoops.
Follow along with live updates from today's exhibition between the Wildcats and Red Raiders below:
UK will be without three players in tonight's exhibition:
Senior guard Jerone Morton (knee)
Junior forward Trent Noah (hamstring)
Junior guard Kam Williams (foot)
Per Kentucky, Noah and Williams are both "week to week." There is "no hard timeline" on when Noah will return, however. Morton recently was reevaluated by doctors, but "is still a little away" from being cleared to play.
Noah Frary (play-by-play), Ravi Moss (analyst) and Maggie Davis (sideline) will call the exhibition from Rupp Arena.
Tom Leach (play-by-play) and Jack Givens (analyst) will have the UK radio network call on 840 AM in Louisville and both 630 AM and 98.1 FM in Lexington.
You can also listen online via UKAthletics.com.
Oct. 23: exhibition vs. Texas Tech (Rupp Arena), 7 p.m., SEC Network+
Oct. 28: exhibition vs. Central Florida (Rupp Arena), 6 p.m., SEC Network
Nov. 3: Manhattan (Rupp Arena), 7 p.m., SEC Network+
Nov. 6: James Madison (Rupp Arena), 7 p.m., SEC Network
Nov. 10: vs. Kansas (Champions Classic; United Center, Chicago), 9:30 p.m. ET, ESPN
Nov. 13: Northern Arizona (Rupp Arena), 7 p.m., SEC Network+
Nov. 16: Grambling State (Rupp Arena), 7 p.m., SEC Network+
Nov. 20: vs. Indiana (Lucas Oil Stadium, Indianapolis), 8 p.m. ET, CBS
Dec. 2: at Virginia (ACC/SEC Challenge; John Paul Jones Arena; Charlottesville, Virginia), 7:15 p.m., ESPN
Dec. 5: Appalachian State (Rupp Arena), 1 p.m., SEC Network+
Dec. 8: Bryant (Rupp Arena), 7:30 p.m., ESPN2
Dec. 12: Louisville (Rupp Arena), 4 p.m., ABC
Dec. 19: vs. North Carolina (CBS Sports Classic; Madison Square Garden, New York), 2:30 p.m., CBS
Dec. 22: Sacred Heart (Rupp Arena), 1 p.m., SEC Network
Dec. 28: Gardner-Webb (Rupp Arena), 7 p.m., SEC Network
Jan. 2: at Oklahoma, Noon ET, ESPN or ESPN2
Jan. 5: Ole Miss (Rupp Arena), 7 p.m., ESPN or ESPN2
Jan. 9: at Missouri, 4 p.m. ET, ESPN2
Jan. 13: LSU (Rupp Arena), 7 p.m., SEC Network
Jan. 16: Vanderbilt (Rupp Arena), 4 p.m., ESPN or ESPN2
Jan. 20: at Mississippi State, 8:30 p.m. ET, SEC Network
Jan. 23: Tennessee (Rupp Arena), 2 p.m., ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPNU
Jan. 30: at Texas, Noon ET, ESPN or ESPN 2
Feb. 2: at Ole Miss, 9 p.m. ET, ESPN or ESPN2
Feb. 6: Alabama (Rupp Arena), 2 p.m., ESPN or ESPN2
Feb. 9: South Carolina (Rupp Arena), 8 p.m., SEC Network
Feb. 13: at Tennessee, 4 p.m., ESPN
Feb. 16: at Georgia, 7 p.m., ESPN or ESPN2
Feb. 20: Arkansas (Rupp Arena), 6 or 6:30 p.m., ESPN
Feb. 23: at Vanderbilt, 9 p.m. ET, ESPN or ESPN2
Feb. 27: Auburn (Rupp Arena), 4 or 4:30 p.m., ESPN or ESPN2
March 2: Texas A&M (Rupp Arena), 7 p.m., ESPN2 or ESPNU
March 6: at Florida, 4 or 4:30 p.m., ESPN
Zoom Diallo (guard, junior)
Braydon Hawthorne (forward, sophomore)
Zyon Hawthorne (guard, freshman)
Franck Kepnang (center, graduate student)
Justin McBride (forward, senior)
Milan Momcilovic (forward, senior)
Malachi Moreno (center, sophomore)
Jerone Morton (guard, senior)
Ousmane N'Diaye (forward, junior)
Trent Noah (forward, junior)
Reece Potter (forward, junior)
Alex Wilkins (guard, sophomore)
Kam Williams (guard, junior)
Mason Williams (guard, freshman)
Want to learn the Red Raiders' roster?
Reach Kentucky men’s basketball and football reporter Ryan Black at rblack@gannett.com and follow him on X at @RyanABlack.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Kentucky-Texas Tech score today, UK basketball exhibition live updates
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