The University of Kentucky basketball team’s Blue-White Game is moving back to Lexington for the 2024-25 season.

But this edition will still be different. In more ways than one.

After taking the annual intrasquad scrimmage on the road the past two years, UK will return close to home for the staple of the preseason schedule. But instead of being played in Rupp Arena, this year’s event has been set for Oct. 18 in the newly renovated Memorial Coliseum, and there will be twice as much basketball as usual.

The university announced Friday morning that the Wildcats’ men’s and women’s teams — both under new leadership — will participate in this year’s Blue-White Game, and proceeds from ticket sales will go toward Club Blue, the UK-aligned NIL fund.

UK also has a new name for the showcase this year: the “BlueWhite Preseason Event.”

The men’s Blue-White Game is typically played in Rupp Arena, though it was moved to Pikeville in 2022 and used as a means of fundraising for flood relief in eastern Kentucky. Last year’s scrimmage was played at Northern Kentucky University.

The men’s scrimmage hasn’t taken place in Memorial Coliseum since 2006, and — after first-year head coach Billy Gillispie decided not to have a Blue-White Game in 2007 — it moved to Rupp for the 2008-09 season.

Memorial Coliseum is the traditional home of the UK women’s team, which was displaced last season as the arena shut down amid an $82 million renovation project. UK athletics director Mitch Barnhart updated reporters on the progress around those renovations last month, and — while the project is not yet fully completed — the UK volleyball team is still scheduled to hold its first regular-season home game in Memorial Coliseum on Aug. 30.

The Blue-White Game will mark another one of the building’s marquee events in the first few months after it reopens.

The scrimmage is set for one week after Big Blue Madness, which will also include both the men’s and women’s teams on Oct. 11 in Rupp Arena.

Mark Pope is the new head coach of the men’s basketball team, which will feature an entirely new roster of scholarship players after John Calipari departed — along with his 2023-24 team — following last season. Pope’s Wildcats are listed at No. 23 nationally in ESPN’s latest preseason rankings for the 2024-25 campaign.

Kenny Brooks is entering his first season as the UK women’s basketball coach after spending the past eight seasons at Virginia Tech, where he led that program to the Final Four in 2023. He replaces Kyra Elzy, who coached the Cats for the previous four years.

Brooks has also brought in several instant-impact newcomers for his first season at Kentucky, and his Cats are No. 25 in ESPN’s latest preseason rankings. UK had a combined SEC record of 6-26 over the past two seasons, finishing no better than 12th in the 14-team league.

Pope’s Wildcats will play their first regular-season game against Wright State on Nov. 4 in Rupp Arena, while Brooks’ team is scheduled to start its 2024-25 campaign against South Carolina Upstate — also on Nov. 4 — in Memorial Coliseum.

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