UK men’s basketball returning to Bahamas for foreign trip

Wildcats will play four games at Baha Mar Resort in August against four international teams

Pack your bags, Big Blue Nation, because the Kentucky men’s basketball team is headed back to a memorable destination for a foreign basketball tour this August: the Bahamas. 

The Wildcats will head to the beautiful Baha Mar Resort in Nassau for a four-game, seven-day trip from Aug. 8-14. UK will train at the world-class resort and play four games during its stay as it prepares for the 2022-23 season.

Kentucky will play the Dominican Republic U22 National Team on Aug. 10, Monterey Tech (Mexico) on Aug. 11, Carleton University (Canada) on Aug. 13 and The Bahamas National Team on Aug. 14.  

NCAA rules allow for a foreign tour by an intercollegiate team once every four academic years. Kentucky’s Big Blue Bahamas tour is managed by bdG Sports, a Lexington-based event marketing firm which annually manages more than two dozen games at Baha Mar each November.

UK’s returning core is headlined by National Player of the Year Oscar Tshiebwe who led the country with 15.1 rebounds per game and also paced the Cats in scoring at 17.4 points per game. Kentucky will also welcome back Sahvir Wheeler who led the Southeastern Conference and ranked third in the country with 6.9 assists per game. Forwards Daimion Collins, Jacob Toppin and Lance Ware were all instrumental in helping the Wildcats to a 26-8 season a year ago and a No. 2 national seed in the NCAA Tournament. 

This marks the third time the Wildcats have ascended on the Bahamas to serve as a tune-up for the regular season, and both previous times the Cats came away with positive results. UK first traveled to the island prior to the 2014-15 season which ignited a magical run that ended with an undefeated regular season, SEC regular-season and tournament titles, and a trip to the Final Four. Kentucky earned a 4-0 mark in the Bahamas in 2018, prior to going 30-7 and reaching the Elite Eight in 2019. 

This will be the Cats first trip to Baha Mar, a 2,300-room resort anchored by a Grand Hyatt Hotel, and also features two deluxe hotel offerings, an SLS and Rosewood. The resort features a 100,000 square-foot casino, a new $250 million water park and the Jack Nicklaus-designed Royal Blue Golf Course.

Full information for fans wishing to attend can be found at KentuckyBahamasTour.com. All ticketing options will be sold online directly through the above link.

Kentucky’s competition will include:

  • Bahamas National Team – Team comprised of Bahamian players competing for a berth in the AmeriCup and World Cup;
  • Carleton University (Ottawa, Canada) – Winners of 16 of the last 19 collegiate national championships in Canada; owns wins over Syracuse, Wisconsin and others in its summer tour exhibition history;
  • Dominican Republic U-22 Team – Members of the Dominican Republic’s national program all under the age of 22
  • Monterey Tech – Mexican collegiate team boosted by U23 national team players as well