NEW YORK – Kentucky is coming back to the Big Apple next season, but this time the stage will be set in the heart of Brooklyn.

UK will help open the Barclays Center, the soon-to-be new home of the New Jersey Nets, when it plays Maryland in the Barclays Center Classic on Nov. 9. Also featuring Long Island vs. Morehead State, the Classic will mark the first college basketball games at the $800 million Barclays Center, which opens in September 2012.

The Classic will be televised on ESPN’s family of networks.

Brett Yormark, CEO of the New Jersey Nets and the Barclays Center, said he talked with John Calipari, a former Nets colleague, a few years about opening the arena and discussed how to make it a national venue for college basketball.

“Without any hesitation, Cal said, ‘Brett, I want Kentucky to play in the first college basketball game in the Barclays Center,’ ” Yormark said. “As you know, when Coach Cal wants something, he usually gets it.”

Coach Cal remembers the agreement a little differently, joking with Yorkmark that his persistent emails convinced him to play, but the third-year UK coach welcomed the chance to bring college basketball back to Brooklyn.

John Calipari helped announce the UK-Maryland game in the Barclays Center Classic at a news conference at The New York Times building in downtown New York. (photo by Britney McIntosh, UK Athletics)

“I think it’s an opportunity that, being in the seat I’m in, to use the program to help different things,” Calipari said at a news conference inside The New York Times building in downtown New York. “One of those is playing in the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. We have a chance to come in here and play a game and spark some interest and maybe turn some young people on to basketball and academics. It’s a good thing. We’re excited about it.”

Coach Cal coached the Nets from 1997 to 1999 before the organization decided to part ways with him.

“You see that I don’t take things personally,” Calipari said. “The Nets fired me. They fired me and I’m coming back.”

The opportunity to have the Kentucky name attached to the opening of a state-of-the-art facility in the heart of Brooklyn was too good for Yormark and Calipari to pass up.

“We will bring 10- to 12,000 fans, maybe more,” Calipari said. “They’ll overrun the building.”

The game will mark the 13th meeting between UK and Maryland. Kentucky leads the series 7-5, but the Terrapins have won the last two times. The latest Maryland victory took place in 2002 in the NCAA Tournament.

The Terrapins are led by first-year head coach Mark Turgeon, who took over for coach Garry Williams after a long and successful run.

“I coached Mark Turgeon,” Calipari said. “That’s how old I’m getting. I coached him at Kansas. He was a heck of a player, a competitor. He’s just going to do a fabulous job (at Maryland). I’m not anxious to coach against him but it will be good for both programs.”

Scheduled to open on Sept. 28, 2012, the Barclays Center will be a major sports and entertainment venue in the heart of Brooklyn. Designed by architectural firms Ellerbe Becket and SHoP Architects, the Barclays Center aims to provide an extremely intimate seating configuration with terrific sightlines and first-class amenities.

The Barclays Center will offer approximately 18,000 seats for basketball, up to 19,000 seats for concerts and 100 luxury suites.

Musical mogul and part-owner of the Nets Jay-Z will open the building with a concert.