Marquee Clemson-Kentucky basketball game in December will be late tipoff

If you’re really looking forward to seeing the Clemson Tigers square off against the Kentucky Wildcats as part of this year’s SEC/ACC Challenge, you might need an excuse to miss work the following day.

That’s because Clemson’s game against Kentucky basketball will be a late tipoff. How late? The Tigers and Wildcats will get underway at 9:30 p.m. locally in the Upstate when the two teams meet on Dec. 3 at Littlejohn Coliseum. The game will be televised on ESPN, who announced start times for the SEC-ACC Challenge on Monday.

Clemson hasn’t faced Kentucky on the hardwood since the beginning of the 1997-98 season, a 76-61 Wildcats victory at the Premier Classic in Phoenix that November. Rick Barnes and Tubby Smith were the head coaches at Clemson and Kentucky, respectively, at the time.

The Wildcats went on to win the NCAA men’s basketball championship against Utah at the Alamodome in San Antonio in March 1998.

A year earlier, the Tigers bested Kentucky, 79-71, in overtime on Nov. 15, 1996 in the BCA Classic at the RCA Dome in Indianapolis. It would turn out to be Rick Pitino’s final season as Wildcats head coach. Pitino would lose his bid at a second straight title months later with a loss to Arizona in the national championship game — also at RCA Dome.

Kentucky leads the all-time series against Clemson, 12-4.

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Clemson is coming off its best season in over 40 years. The Tigers reached the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament last March for only the second time in school history — and the first time since 1980.

Kentucky was a No. 3 seed in the tournament but fell to No. 14 seed Oakland in the first round in John Calipari’s final game as Wildcats coach after 15 seasons. Amid mounting pressure, Calipari left Lexington for the Arkansas Razorbacks’ coaching job weeks later.

Brad Brownell will be in his 15th season as Clemson’s head coach when the Tigers open the 2024-25 campaign against Charleston Southern on Nov. 4 at Littlejohn Coliseum. Clemson returns six scholarship players from a season ago, including sixth-year senior guard Chase Hunter and forward/center Ian Schieffelin.

Both were instrumental in the Tigers’ deep run to the Elite Eight. Schieffelin was named the ACC’s Most Improved Player a season ago.

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This article originally appeared on Clemson Wire: Marquee Clemson-Kentucky basketball game in December will be late tipoff