FAIRBORN — The Wright State men’s basketball team will begin the Clint Sargent Era against Kentucky, the two schools announced Thursday.

The Raiders will lift the lid of its 2024-25 regular season campaign against the Wildcats inside Rupp Arena on November 4.

The season opener will be a matchup between a pair of head coaches in their first games on the sidelines. Sargent was named the 10th head coach in Wright State history on March 28, while Mark Pope was named Kentucky’s 23rd head coach on April 12.

“This is a great opportunity for our program to compete on one of the biggest stages in college basketball,” Sargent said. “We understand it will be a great environment against a very good opponent that will test our moxie and resolve. We are looking forward to the challenge.”

The November meeting will be the fifth time the Raiders and Kentucky have faced each other, with the last game coming early in the 2015-16 season. This will be the second time Wright State and Kentucky have opened the season against each other, joining the 1992-93 opener that was played on December 2. The teams have met inside Rupp Arena in three of the four previous contests, while they faced off in Cincinnati in November 1998.

Kentucky has never been ranked lower than No. 8 in the Associated Press Top 25 rankings when the two schools have faced one another. The Wildcats finished last season with a 23-10 record and finished second in the Southeastern Conference. Kentucky got a 3-seed in the NCAA tournament, where it was defeated by Oakland University in the first round.

The Wildcats will have a vastly different roster comprising its ‘24-‘25 team, with 12 players exiting its program and having eight incoming transfers join, including former Dayton guard Koby Brea who led the NCAA in 3-point shooting percentage last season.

Wright State returns eight players from a season ago while adding six newcomers (three freshmen, three transfers). Brandon Noel (14.5 ppg) and Alex Huibregtse (12.3 ppg) both averaged double digits scoring in 2023-24, with Noel’s 8.0 rebounds per game leading the team last season.

Wright State has made season ticket renewals for the 2024-25 men’s basketball season available.