Anyone who follows college sports knows that NIL has changed the way teams are built, and have changed the way players decide where to play. The Kentucky Wildcats used NIL to assemble a very good roster, and put together one of the best transfer classes in college basketball.

Louisville basketball has recently learned that it will face off against the Arkansas Razorbacks in the 2025 ACC/SEC Challenge. While this quickly emerges as one of Louisville’s top matchups on the 2025-26 calendar, one matchup still stands out above all others.

The Cardinals have a thrilling out-of-conference schedule as Pat Kelsey and his staff created one of the best schedules in college basketball. The Cardinals’ November and December schedule is set to be extremely exciting and championship-caliber basketball, making it clear that the Cards have their eyes set on a deep March and April run.

Louisville will be battle-tested numerous times before the 2026 NCAA Tournament, and Arkansas is emerging as one of the fans’ favorite matchups, but it is clear that a different SEC giant is still Louisville’s biggest matchup of the 2025-26 season.

Related: The glaring truth behind Louisville basketball’s blockbuster showdown with Arkansas

Louisville basketball’s most important game isn’t against Arkansas or Tennessee

The Cardinals’ date is set for their blockbuster showdown with Arkansas, as the two historical programs will tip-off from Bud Walton Arena on Dec. 3. These two programs will be led by multiple 5-star recruits and future NBA stars, but the silver lining of this matchup is the Cardinals seeking revenge against John Calipari.

Louisville had a 3-13 record against Coach Cal during his 15 seasons with the Kentucky Wildcats. The former Wildcats head coach is one of Louisville basketball fan’s most hated coaches, making this massive showdown in December one of the most anticipated matchups for all of college basketball.

However, the Cardinals’ showdown on Nov. 11 from KFC Yum! Center against their biggest rival, the Kentucky Wildcats, is still the clear No. 1 matchup of the season. Louisville has matchups against Kansas, Duke, Memphis, Cincinnati, and Tennessee as well, but that rivalry showdown on a Tuesday in Louisville, Ky., in front of 22,000, is still the most anticipated matchup next season.

Both programs had massive transfer potential, as both programs’ classes are ranked in the top five in the nation. Kentucky was able to land one 5-star and four 4-star recruits, which has them ranked No. 5 in the nation. Meanwhile, Louisville earned one 5-star and two 4-star recruits and surpassed Kentucky at No. 4 in the country, according to 247Sports rankings.

The Wildcats also boast a top-five 2025 class, having landed four 4-star recruits, all of whom rank in the top 35. Louisville was able to land one 5-star and one 4-star recruit, both ranked in the top 25, according to 247Sports.

On top of all that, these two programs hate each other. Louisville and Kentucky are one of the best rivalries in all of sports, both collegiate and professional. These two programs have met 57 times, dating back to 1912.

With both programs having a legitimate shot at a Final Four run and Louisville having a massive opportunity to end their four-game losing streak to the Wildcats, it is crystal clear that this remains the No. 1 matchup on Kelsey’s roster.

This is the game fans want the most. This game means more to me than any other. A win over Kentucky that early in the season would set their sights immediately on a National Title and start the season on an extremely high note.

While many would like the game to be in December, that is for another conversation. However, for now, Louisville has a golden opportunity to get revenge on the Kentucky Wildcats this upcoming season.

Related: Louisville basketball’s 3 biggest non-conference games in 2025

For all the latest on Louisville basketball’s offseason and recruiting, stay tuned.

Associated Press

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The stands at Charles Schwab Field were emptying, and Murray State players wanted to savor their program’s first College World Series as long as they could.

Never mind the Racers had just been no-hit by Arkansas’ Gage Wood in a 3-0 loss that will send them home to southwestern Kentucky on Tuesday.

Some of the players filled jars with infield dirt, a keepsake from their improbable journey to the city where every college baseball team wants to be in June. Some milled about with family and friends.

“One of my wife’s favorite movies is “A League of Their Own,” and they said there’s no crying in baseball,” an emotional coach Dan Skirka said to open his postgame news conference with 9-year-old son Keegan on his knee. “Well, throw that out the window. There’s no way I’m making it through this right here.”

The Racers were the first Missouri Valley Conference team to make the CWS since 2003 and only the fourth No. 4 regional seed to get to Omaha since the NCAA Tournament went to its current format in 1999.

They swept conference regular-season and tournament championships, beat No. 10 national seed Mississippi of the SEC twice on its home field and Georgia Tech of the ACC once en route to a regional title. Then the Racers went to Duke of the ACC for super regionals and lost the opener before winning two straight to punch their ticket to Omaha.

Murray State overcame early jitters in its CWS opener against UCLA, falling behind 6-0, and lost 6-4.

As for their game against Arkansas, the Racers just happened to run into a pitcher who threw one of the greatest games in college baseball history — a no-hitter with 19 strikeouts, a record in a nine-inning CWS game and tied for most by a Division I pitcher this season.

“We never lost faith. Haven’t all year. We’re not about to start now,” third baseman Carson Garner said. “About halfway through the game, I think we realized that, ‘Hey, this guy’s, he’s dealing, he’s throwing a perfect game.’ ”

Murray State finished 44-17 to set a program record for wins, ending the season with only its second shutout loss.

“The wins are phenomenal. We had a lot of them,” said Jonathan Hogart, who led the Racers with 22 homers. “You just can’t match the culture we have here. I’m going to miss Coach, I’m going to miss these two (Garner and Dustin Mercer). I’m going to miss every one of these guys. Strap on the cleats to go to war with these guys was such a blessing this year, and I’ll never take it for granted.”

Skirka, who finished his seventh season at the Racers’ coach, put together a roster made up of eight Division I transfers, 14 from junior colleges and 14 high school recruits. Skirka said no one on his team was making money from endorsements or other name, image and likeness opportunities.

“You say at the end of the year only one team’s happy,” Skirka said. “That ain’t the case this year. There’s definitely more than one because these guys, the run they went on, you’re not going to be able to wipe the smile off their face for a really long time. That’s what I told them. They’re going to share this for ages and people are going to ask them about it for ages, and that’s really the cool thing.”

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AP college sports: https://apnews.com/hub/college-sports

OMAHA, Neb. – Fueled by Gage Wood’s no-hitter and near perfect game, Arkansas kept its postseason hopes alive with a 3-0 win over Murray State at the College World Series on Monday afternoon inside Charles Schwab Field.

Wood was incredible in throwing just the third no-hitter in College World Series history and only the 11th solo no-hitter in Arkansas school history. He joins Jim Ehler of Texas in 1950 and Jim Wixson of Oklahoma State in 1960 as the only pitchers to record no-hitters in the CWS. Wood’s 19 strikeouts broke the school record in his first-ever complete game. His 19 punch outs eclipsed the record held by Hagen Smith (2024) and Jess Todd (2007), who both struck out 17.

Wood set the CWS record for consecutive outs, retiring the first 21 batters he faced on Monday before a 2-2 breaking ball hit the back foot of Dom Decker to open the eighth inning. The perfect game bid was the longest since 1999 in the CWS.

Wood breezed through the Murray State lineup the first time through, striking out five of the nine Racers in their first at-bat. The Batesville, Ark. native rolled through the third and fourth innings, striking out the side in both before striking out Decker to start the fifth for seven straight punch outs. He then fielded a ground ball to the first base side of the mound and raced to first for the second out before he added his 11th strikeout to end the fifth.

He added a pair of strikeouts in the sixth and one more in the seventh to retire 21 straight to start the game. After hitting Decker to open the eighth inning, Wood quickly got back to work by getting Luke Mistone to foul out to Ryder Helfrick behind the plate then racked up two more strikeouts to extend his no-hit bid to the ninth.

Back out for the ninth inning, Wood was still reaching 97-98 mph with his fastball. Pinch hitter Nico Bermeo looked to have been the second Racer to reach base when he was hit in the elbow by a 2-2 pitch but, after review, the umpires overturned the call and called Bermeo out by rule – in college baseball a pitch is called a strike when a batter is ruled to have intentionally allowed the ball to hit him. With strikeout No. 16 in the books, Wood blew fastballs by fellow Batesville native and Ohio Valley Conference Freshman of the Year Conner Cunningham for the second out. With history hanging in the balance, Wood finished it off in style with his 19th strikeout of the afternoon against the Racers’ best hitter in Jonathan Hogart. Wood’s 19 strikeouts is one shy of the CWS record 20 set in 1965 by Steve Arlin in Ohio State’s 1-0 win over Washington in 15 innings.

While Wood was dominating on the mound, the Hogs were struggling to get into gear at the plate. A Reese Robinett double led off the top of the third inning before Charles Davalan scratched the first run of the afternoon with a single. That run was more than enough for Wood but his teammates added a pair of insurance runs in the seventh inning.

Leadoff singles from Justin Thomas Jr. and Davalan put runners on the corners for Wehiwa Aloy. The SEC Player of the Year pounded a double inside the third base bag and down the left field line to stretch the lead to two runs. Davalan scored on an error by Murray State’s outfielder to cap the rally and increase the Arkansas lead to three runs.

Thomas led all players with a career-best four hits on the day as Arkansas collected 10 hits on the afternoon. Davalan and Aloy chipped in a pair of hits apiece in the win.

Arkansas advances to tomorrow night when the Hogs will take on the loser of LSU/UCLA at 6 p.m.

Records Set by Gage Wood in CWS No-Hitter

• Arkansas school record for single-game strikeouts – 19
• 11th solo no-hitter in Arkansas school history
• 3rd no-hitter in CWS history
• 9th no-hitter in NCAA tournament history
• Most strikeouts in a single game of 9 innings or fewer in CWS History
• Most single-game strikeouts in Charles Schwab Field Era of CWS
• 1st complete game in CWS since 2018 Oregon State’s Kevin Abel
• 124th CWS Shutout

How Gage Wood Threw the Third No-Hitter in College World Series History
1st Inning
Jonathan Hogart – Fly out to RF
Dustin Mercer – K
Carson Garner – K

2nd Inning
Dom Decker – K looking
Luke Mistone – groundout to 2B
Will Vierling – Fly out to RF

3rd Inning
Dan Tauken – K
Charlie Jury – K looking
Conner Cunningham – K

4th Inning
Jonathan Hogart – K
Dustin Mercer – K
Carson Garner – K looking

5th Inning
Dom Decker – K looking
Luke Mistone – groundout to P
Will Vierling – K looking

6th Inning
Dan Tauken – groundout to P
Charlie Jury – K
Conner Cunningham – K

7th Inning
Jonathan Hogart – K
Dustin Mercer – groundout to SS
Carson Garner – groundout to 1B

8th Inning
Dom Decker – HBP
Luke Mistone – foul out to C
Will Vierling – K
Dan Tauken – K

9th Inning
Nico Bermeo – K (HBP overturned for strike three)
Conner Cunningham – K
Jonathan Hogart – K looking

For complete coverage of Arkansas baseball, follow the Hogs on Twitter (@RazorbackBSB), Instagram (@RazorbackBSB) and Facebook (Arkansas Razorback Baseball).