Former Wildcat and 1996 National Champion Mark Pope Tweeted that his Utah Valley Wolverines will open the 2017-2018 season at Rupp Arena.
Pope took over the head coaching job at Utah Valley in 2015. Last season Pope put the Wolverines in postseason play, falling in the semifinals of the CBI Tournament.
Kentucky has never played Utah Valley in program history.
Kentucky hasn't yet confirmed the game against Utah State, although Pope's Tweet seems definite. Pope helped UK win the 1996 National Championship and averaged 7.9 points, 5.7 rebounds and 1.2 blocks during his time in Lexington.
Before becoming a head coach, Pope was an assistant at Georgia and Wake Forest for a year, before joining BYU's staff from 2011-2015.
He's 29-35 at Utah Valley but finished .500 in year two. Utah Valley had zero seniors on last year's roster and should return every player for next season.
This is the seventh UK game that has an official date. The Cats have announced 18 SEC games, although there's no date or times for those games. That marks 25 confirmed opponents. Kentucky hasn't announced Louisville yet, but the Cats will host the Cards at Rupp Arena, although a date hasn't been confirmed.
That makes 26 opponents, with five remaining. UK intends to play 31 regular season games.
Here's how UK's 2017-2018 schedule currently looks. The final schedule should be announced this month.
2017-18 Schedule:
Nov. 10 vs. Utah Valley | Lexington (Rupp Arena)
Nov. 12 vs. Vermont | Lexington (Rupp Arena)
Nov. 14 vs. Kansas (Champions Classic) | Chicago (United Center)
Dec. 2 vs. Harvard | Lexington (Rupp Arena)
Dec. 9 vs. Monmouth (Citi Double Cash Classic) | New York (Madison Square Garden)
Dec. 16 vs. Virginia Tech | Lexington (Rupp Arena)
Dec. 23 vs. UCLA (CBS Sports Classic) | New Orleans (Smoothie King Center)
Jan. 27 at West Virginia (Big 12/SEC Challenge) | Morgantown, West Virginia (WVU Coliseum)
2017-18 SEC Home Games: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Missouri, Tennessee, Texas A&M and Vanderbilt.
2017-18 SEC Away Games: Arkansas, Auburn, Florida, LSU, Missouri, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas A&M and Vanderbilt.
UPDATED: Later in the day, Vermont's coach announced that his team would open their season against Kentucky in Rupp Arena. Vermont, which finished last season 29-6, will take on Kentucky on Nov. 12.
