Kentucky’s 2019-20 SEC matchups revealed

The Kentucky Wildcats’ 2019-20 schedule is slowly coming into focus.

On Wednesday, the SEC announced its home-and-away designations for the entire league’s schedule next season. Dates and games times for each matchup will be released at a later date.

As usual, Kentucky will have a combined six games against it’s permanent conference opponents — the Florida Gators, Tennessee Volunteers and Vanderbilt Commodores.

In addition, Kentucky will have home and away matchups with the Auburn Tigers and Georgia Bulldogs. I’m all for two rounds of sophomore Ashton Hagans guarding top-three recruit Anthony Edwards.

Kentucky will also have home games vs. the Alabama Crimson Tide, Missouri Tigers, Mississippi State Bulldogs and Ole Miss Rebels.

On the road, Kentucky has games vs. the Arkansas Razorbacks, LSU Tigers, South Carolina Gamecocks and Texas A&M Aggies.

Looking over the list, I’m a little surprised Kentucky didn’t get two games against LSU, who won the regular-season title last season. Kentucky almost always plays the team that won the regular-season crown (if they didn’t), though this list may have been finalized when it still appeared Will Wade would be fired.

Kentucky will get two shots at Auburn, who won the SEC Tournament and edged the Wildcats for a spot in the Final Four.

Overall, Kentucky got a favorable draw with the teams they’ll only face at home. Alabama, Ole Miss and Mississippi State figure to be in the hunt for NCAA Tournament berths, so getting them in the friendly confines of Rupp Arena is nice.

Playing at LSU will be a tough game, but they should take a step back with the losses of Tremont Waters, Naz Reid and Kavell Bigby-Williams.

Arkansas should be tough, though they did finish 18-16 last season and lost Daniel Gafford to the NBA Draft.

And while Texas A&M has a bright future under new head coach Buzz Williams, they’re probably a a year or two away from being an NCAA Tournament contender.

Missouri at home and South Carolina on the road is probably a wash. Both teams will struggle just to make the NIT, though I’d give the edge to the Tigers in terms of who will have more success.

2019-20 SEC Home Games

• Alabama
• Auburn
• Florida
• Georgia
• Ole Miss
• Mississippi State
• Missouri
• Tennessee
• Vanderbilt

2019-20 SEC Away Games

• Arkansas
• Auburn
• Florida
• Georgia
• LSU
• South Carolina
• Tennessee
• Texas A&M
• Vanderbilt