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Notre Dame, Kentucky To Play Three-Year Basketball Series

Notre Dame is adding a familiar big-brand opponent to its basketball schedule the next three years.

Kentucky and Notre Dame agreed to a three-year series starting this season, the schools announced Thursday. The first meeting is Dec. 12 in Lexington, Ky. The teams will meet again at a neutral site yet to be determined on Dec. 11, 2021. The final game is at Purcell Pavilion on Dec. 10, 2022.

It is the first meeting between the programs since the 2015 Elite Eight in Cleveland, which Kentucky won 68-66. The Wildcats lead the all-time series 43-19. Notre Dame’s last win came on Nov. 29, 2012. The teams have split their last four meetings. Notre Dame is 2-6 against Kentucky under head coach Mike Brey.

Notre Dame men’s basketball head coach Mike Brey during a game
Notre Dame coach Mike Brey is 2-2 in his last four games against Kentucky. (USA Today Sports Images)
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“It is great to renew a series between two of the ‘blue bloods’ of college basketball,” Brey said in a release. “If our recent battles with Kentucky are any indication, these games should be appointment viewing for college basketball fans.”

Here are Notre Dame’s known non-conference games or events for the 2020-21 season:

• Home versus Army, date TBA (reported by Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports)

• Nov. 17 vs. Eastern Washington

• Nov. 20 vs. Liberty

• Nov. 23 vs. Connecticut, Vanderbilt or USC in the Legends Classic at Brooklyn, N.Y.

• Nov. 24 vs. Connecticut, Vanderbilt or USC in the Legends Classic at Brooklyn, N.Y.

• ACC/Big Ten Challenge home game in late November or early December (opponent TBA)

• Dec. 12 at Kentucky

• TBA vs. Purdue in Indianapolis (likely Dec. 19 but not official)

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Notre Dame was initially scheduled to play at Howard Dec. 12 in the return of a series that started in 2019-20, but that gave will be moved, according to a team spokesman. The goal is still to play it this season, though that has not been finalized.

Notre Dame was initially planning to play Howard and Georgetown on one weekend road trip, but those plans changed when Georgetown backed out of the schedule series (and therein opened a spot to begin the series with Kentucky this year).

Kentucky was initially scheduled to play Michigan in London this December, but the game was moved to 2022 due to COVID-19 concerns and created an opening on the Wildcats’ schedule.

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The 2021-22 schedule also includes the Maui Invitational. The other seven teams in it are Wisconsin, Oregon, Texas A&M, Butler, Houston, Saint Mary’s and host institution Chaminade, a Division II program.

Notre Dame’s ACC pairings for the next two seasons were announced earlier this year.

2020-21 — Home-and-home: Boston College, Georgia Tech, Duke, Miami, Virginia, Virginia Tech. Home only: Clemson, Florida State, North Carolina State, Wake Forest. Road only: Louisville, North Carolina, Pittsburgh, Syracuse

2021-22 — Home-and-home: Boston College, Georgia Tech, Clemson, Louisville, North Carolina State, Pittsburgh. Home only: Duke, North Carolina, Syracuse, Virginia. Road only: Florida State, Miami, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest

Notre Dame will travel to Marquette in 2022-23 for the first leg of a home-and-home series.

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