The freshman guard was a standout in Kentucky's exhibition victory over No. 19 Texas Tech on Friday night. And he's shaping up as a key player for the Cats.
Zoom Diallo had seven points, five rebounds and five assists in UK's exhibition victory over Little Rock on Friday. Photo credit: James Crisp/Inside Kentucky Basketball
The Kentucky Wildcats will be a ranked team to start the 2026-27 college basketball season.
But just barely.
Mark Pope’s third UK squad was listed at No. 23 in the Associated Press Top 25 poll, which was released Monday afternoon. The Cats boast one of the top-rated transfer classes in the country but will once again have to deal with a highly competitive SEC schedule, along with the possibility of five nonconference games against teams that could end up in the national rankings.
Pope, who has a 46-26 record at Kentucky, is showing up on “hot seat” lists from national college basketball outlets entering Year 3, despite winning NCAA Tournament games in each of his first two seasons on the job. His 2025-26 team finished with a 22-14 record and lost in the second round of the NCAA Tournament after starting the season at No. 9 in the AP rankings and dealing with injuries to key players throughout the campaign.
The projected UK starting lineup this season consists of highly touted transfers Zoom Diallo, Alex Wilkins and Milan Momcilovic, along with international power forward Ousmane N’Diaye and returning center Malachi Moreno, who started as a freshman at Kentucky last season.
That group formed the first five in UK’s 69-49 victory over Little Rock in its exhibition opener Friday night. The Cats will return to the court with another exhibition game against Texas Tech (No. 19 in the preseason AP rankings) at 7 p.m. Friday in Rupp Arena. That game will be shown on SEC Network+.
UK’s regular season opener is set for Nov. 3 against Manhattan in Rupp.
Florida was the clear No. 1 in the preseason Top 25 rankings, earning 47 of a possible 59 first-place votes despite losing an exhibition game to unranked Baylor over the weekend.
Duke, Illinois, UConn and Arizona rounded out the top five, and that group was followed by No. 6 Michigan State, No. 7 Texas, No. 8 Tennessee, No. 9 Virginia and No. 10 Houston.
Kentucky will play at Florida in its regular season finale, and the Cats also have road games against Texas, Tennessee and Virginia on the 2026-27 schedule (as well as a home date with the Vols).
UK will host games against No. 11 Louisville, No. 12 Arkansas, No. 20 Alabama and No. 24 Vanderbilt, with a neutral site matchup set against No. 17 Kansas on Nov. 10 in Chicago, as well as a road game against Vandy in SEC play.
That’s a total of 11 regular season games against teams ranked in the Top 25.
Indiana and North Carolina, which were both in the “others receiving votes” category in the preseason poll, are also on UK’s nonconference schedule, as are SEC foes Missouri, Texas A&M and Auburn.
In all, seven SEC teams were ranked in the Top 25, with three more receiving votes.
Kentucky was also No. 23 in the AP preseason rankings heading into Pope’s first year, when the Cats earned a 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament and advanced to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2019. UK has now been ranked in 18 consecutive preseason Top 25 polls, dating back to 2008, which turned out to be Billy Gillispie’s final season as head coach.
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Ben Roberts launched Inside Kentucky Basketball in 2026 to bring a source of independent and objective coverage of the Cats to UK fans. He spent 20 years at the Lexington Herald-Leader, including four seasons as UK men's basketball beat writer.
