UK Athletics officially announced the date for the 2025 Big Blue Madness basketball preseason event on Thursday.

In a post from Kentucky Athletics, the university announced that the annual event will take place on Saturday, Oct. 11, slotting in during the UK football bye week.

The post highlighted Kentucky coaches Mark Pope (men’s basketball) and Kenny Brooks (women’s basketball) and also featured returning players Clara Strack and Otega Oweh.

The event, which first began in 1982 under then Head Coach Joe B. Hall as “Midnight Special,” serves as a showcase to build anticipation for the upcoming college basketball seasons for both men’s and women’s basketball.

Hall got the idea from legendary Maryland Terrapins Head Coach Lefty Driesell.

In the modern era, the event is a spectacle of Kentucky basketball, with the university bringing in the ASB GlassFloor, a state of the art floor which covers screens, allowing for images and videos to be flashed across the playing surface, last year.

Last year’s event, which introduced thousands to the brand new men’s and women’s basketball coaches, as well as all new players, saw viral moments such as Rick Pitino’s return to Kentucky, Lamont Butler’s rapping entrance, a showcase of the history of the floors used by Kentucky basketball and Coach Pope emerging from the crowd to thunderous applause.

Heading into the 2025 season, Kentucky men’s basketball is bringing back fan favorites such as Oweh, Brandon Garrison, Collin Chandler and Trent Noah, while also bringing in a stellar transfer class that includes the likes of Mouhamed Dioubate, Jaland Lowe, Denzel Aberdeen and Kam Williams. Fans will also see incoming freshmen Jasper Johnson, Malachi Moreno and Braydon Hawthorne.

On the women’s side, Brooks is also returning stars from last year’s team such as Strack, Jordan Obi, Teonni Key and Amelia Hassett, while also bringing in a strong transfer class that includes Josie Gilvin, Asia Boone and Tonie Morgan. Brooks’ freshmen include Elsa Vadfors and Kaelyn Carroll.

The event, as has become tradition, will be held in Rupp Arena with a time and information on ticketing still to be announced.

Kentucky men’s basketball will play its first exhibition game on Oct. 24 against Purdue while the women’s basketball program has announced its season opener as taking place on Nov. 3 against Morehead State.