Michigan basketball to play Kentucky in London in 2020

Michigan basketball is heading across the pond.

The Wolverines are scheduled to play Kentucky in a blockbuster matchup in London in December 2020, U-M announced Thursday. The game is part of a three-game series between the teams that includes a home-and-home agreement for 2021-22 and 2022-23.

The 2020 game will be played at London's O2 Arena. It will be the first college basketball game to take place at the venue, which has hosted NBA games. 

In 2021, Michigan will host Kentucky at Crisler Center in Ann Arbor. In 2022, the Wolverines will travel to Rupp Arena in Lexington. 

"When the idea of playing Kentucky came up, we knew it would be an exciting opportunity, not only for ourselves, but for our fans as well," said Michigan coach Juwan Howard in a statement. "What a unique three-game series. First, we get to showcase collegiate basketball overseas in London before playing that traditional home-and-home series in front of two of the nation's best basketball environments. We cannot wait."

Michigan has played outside the country before but mostly in early season tournaments like last week's 'Battle 4 Atlantis' in the Bahamas. 

Michigan has not played Kentucky since 2014, when the Wolverines lost to the Wildcats in the Elite Eight of the NCAA tournament. Before that, their last meeting was in 1993, when Howard and the Fab Five beat Kentucky in the Final Four.

The London game was a vision of Kentucky coach John Calipari, who first said he was considering the overseas game in a summer interview with The Cats' Pause. The game was organized as part of a fundraiser for the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, according to the New York Times, and a second game between University of Maryland-Baltimore County and Marist is part of the deal.

And it might not be the only overseas game Michigan plays in the near future. 

Jim Harbaugh, who took his football team on spring trips to Italy, France and South Africa the past three years, intends to play a game overseas. In July, he hinted an announcement should be coming soon. 

"You can talk to (athletic director Warde Manuel) about this. But I think we're really close to announcing playing another team on foreign soil," Harbaugh said after being asked a question about whether or not he'd be open to playing a game in Mexico City. "I won't say what it is. Have you heard about this? I'd better not say it because they're probably not ready to release that yet. 

"I think there's something imminent. ... An announcement soon on that."