Virginia Tech to play at Kentucky

Hokies and Wildcats to meet in Rupp Arena on Dec. 16

May 24, 2017

BLACKSBURG, VA. – Virginia Tech men’s basketball head coach Buzz Williams announced on Wednesday that the Hokies will face the University of Kentucky in Rupp Arena on Dec. 16, 2017.

The Hokies finished the 2016-17 season 22-11 overall and 10-8 in ACC action and earned its first NCAA Tournament berth since 2007. The Hokies received its first national ranking during this past regular season for the first time since 2010 and recorded back-to-back 20-win seasons for the first time since 2011.

Kentucky finished the 2016-17 season 32-6 overall and was 16-2 in SEC play, winning the SEC Tournament championship. The Wildcats, which finished sixth in the final AP poll and fifth in the final coaches poll, advanced to the Elite Eight, before falling to eventual national champion North Carolina, 75-73.

“Scheduling has become as time consuming and intricate as recruiting,” Williams said. “Exempt events, Power 5 conference challenges, home/home series coupled with our academic calendar, it all becomes a big puzzle to try and fit together. Coach Reynolds, along with Mr. Gabbard's help, have continued to work incredibly hard to find ways to help our program take the next right step in our desired growth. Like all coaches, you want your non-conference schedule to help prepare you for the best league in the country, and competing against a Hall of Fame coach at one of the most storied programs in the history of college basketball will aid in that preparation. It was the piece of this year's puzzle, and to finish it with a Top 5 team in Kentucky, we are grateful.”

Despite the close proximity of the schools and states, this will be just the fifth all-time meeting between Virginia Tech and Kentucky. The Wildcats lead the all-time series, 3-1, and won the last meeting, 84-60, in the second round of the 1996 NCAA Tournament in Dallas, Texas. Tech is 1-1 in Lexington against the Wildcats, having won the most recent meeting, 80-77, in 1962 in Memorial Coliseum.

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