WASHINGTON – Ahead of the 2025-26 college basketball season, the Georgetown University men's basketball team will play its second and final of a pair of preseason exhibitions when the squad hits the road to face the University of Kentucky Wildcats on Thursday, October 30. The game is scheduled for a 7 p.m. tipoff at the Rupp Arena in Lexington, Kentucky.
 
FOLLOW THE HOYAS

• Thursday's exhibition can be seen live on the SEC Network Plus as well as ESPN+ with Noah Frary calling the play-by-play and Travis Ford providing analysis.
• A link to the live stats can be found on GUHoyas.com.

 
ABOUT THE HOYAS

• The 2025-26 season marks the third year under Head Coach Ed Cooley. In his second season, Cooley guided Georgetown to doubling its wins from the season before and finishing with an overall record of 18-16 and 8-12 in BIG EAST play. The squad earned a bid to the inaugural College Basketball Crown, advancing to the semifinals before falling to eventual Crown Champions Nebraska.
• Last week, KJ Lewis was named to the Preseason All-BIG EAST Second Team and Malik Mack was named to the Preseason All-BIG EAST Third Team. The Hoyas were also selected sixth in the BIG EAST Preseason Coaches' Poll.
• In its first exhibition matchup of the 2025-26 season, Georgetown defeated the George Washington University Revolutionaries, 73-64, with the trio of Caleb Williams, Mack and Kayvaun Mulready combining for 48 points.
• Following the 2024-25 season, Thomas Sorber and Micah Peavy were both selected in the 2025 NBA Draft. Sorber, a unanimous selection to the BIG EAST All-Freshman Team and tabbed All-BIG EAST Third Team, was drafted in the first round, 15th overall, to the reigning NBA Champions Oklahoma City Thunder. Peavy, an All-BIG EAST First Team selection, was selected by the Washington Wizards before the hometown team traded the draft rights of Peavy to the New Orleans Pelicans. It marked the first time a Hoya duo has been drafted since 2008.
• The Hoyas return 10 players from a year ago, but with only the trio of Mack, Williams and Mulready seeing playing time in more than 20 games. Mack leads the returners with 12.9 ppg during his sophomore season and a squad-best 4.3 apg.
• Caleb Williams averaged 4.3 ppg and 3.8 rpg while Mulready managed 1.4 ppg to go along with 0.7 rpg.
• The Hoyas will look to Julius Halaifonua to make an impact after a shortened freshman campaign after an injury six games into the season. The Hoyas will also look to Seal Diouf and Jayden Fort, a pair who redshirted their freshman seasons.
• In the offseason, GU added six players from the transfer portal: Isaiah Abraham (UConn), DeShawn Harris-Smith (Maryland), Vince Iwuchukwu (St. John's), Lewis (Arizona), Langston Love (Baylor) and Jeremiah Williams (Rutgers).
• During the summer, the squad represented the United States at GLOBL JAM, competing against teams from host Canada, Japan and Brazil. The Hoyas went 2-1 in the round robin phase, defeating Brazil and Japan while falling to Canada. Their record was enough to advance to the gold medal game against Brazil, however, the Blue & Gray fell 77-73 in the rematch against Brazil to earn a silver medal.
• In the four-game tournament, Mack led a trio of Hoyas in double figures with 13.8 ppg, followed by Harris-Smith (12.3 ppg) and Jeremiah Williams (10.0 ppg).
• Harris-Smith grabbed a squad-best 7.5 rpg followed by Caleb Williams (5.8 rpg) and Iwuchukwu (5.3 rpg) at GLOBL JAM, while Mack's 7.5 apg in Toronto paced the offense.
• Cooley is in his third season with the Hoyas and enters the 2025-26 campaign with a career record of 361-261.

 
ABOUT THE WILDCATS

• Kentucky enters the 2025-26 campaign following a 24-12 season, which included a 10-8 record in SEC play. The Wildcats advanced to the Sweet 16 of the 2025 NCAA Tournament, their first appearance since 2019, before being edged by Tennessee, 78-65.
• The Wildcats earned a No. 9 ranking in the preseason Associated Press (AP) Top 25 as well as in the first edition of the USA Today Sports Men's Basketball Coaches Poll.
• In its first exhibition matchup of the 2025-26 season, Kentucky defeated the Purdue Boilermakers 78-65 at Rupp Arena. Three Cats reached double figures, led by Jasper Johnson with 15 points, while Trent Noah and Otega Oweh added 10 apiece.
• Jaland Lowe, a transfer from Pittsburgh, was named to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame's preseason watch list for the 2026 Bob Cousy Award. Additionally, senior guard Oweh was named to the 2026 Jerry West Shooting Guard of the Year Award preseason watch list. Oweh was also selected as the SEC Preseason Player of the Year.
• The Cats added six transfers to its 2025-26 roster, highlighted by 2025 National Champion Denzel Aberdeen (Florida), two-time Sweet 16 participant Mouhamed Dioubate (Alabama), All-ACC performer Lowe (Pitt), Reece Potter (Miami of Ohio), National Defensive Player of the Year finalist Jayden Quaintance (Arizona State), and AAC All-Freshman honoree Kam Williams (Tulane).
• Kentucky welcomed four collegiate newcomers in Braydon Hawthorne, Andrija Jelavic, Jasper Johnson and Malachi Moreno.
• The 2025-26 season marks Head Coach Mark Pope's second season with the Wildcats.

 
A LOOK BACK AT THE SERIES

• Georgetown and Kentucky have faced each other two times with the Hoyas holding a 2-0 record in the series dating back to 1922.
• The most recent time the two teams met was a 53-40 Hoya win on March 31, 1984 in the NCAA Tournament.
• Cooley is 0-3 against Kentucky.
• Cooley hired current Kentucky Assistant Coach Mark Fox to his inaugural staff in the role of director of student-athlete relations and NIL partnerships, a position he served in for one season before heading to Lexington.