The Ottawa University basketball team will take on the national powerhouse Kentucky Wildcats in an exhibition game Nov. 2 in Lexington, Ky.
The unlikely matchup came about after UK Athletic Director Mitch Barnhart, a 1981 Ottawa graduate, was named 2014-2015 Under Armour AD of the Year.
Barnhart and his special award will be recognized during the game.
“I’m excited that Ottawa University, a school near and dear to my heart, will have this opportunity,” Barnhart said. “Seeing a group of young men from my alma mater playing in Rupp Arena will be something I will always remember.”
Barnhart, a Kansas City, Kan., native, has been at the helm of the UK athletics department since 2002. He returned to the Ottawa campus in 2012 as a featured speaker during its Adventures in Faith event.
Founded in 1865, Ottawa University was started to educate children of the Ottawa Indian tribe, which donated 20,000 acres of land, the proceeds of which would initially fund the institution.
Baptist missionaries worked among the tribe at the time, and American Baptist Churches have related to the school since 1905.
