The first ACC-SEC basketball challenge is set, with some intriguing matchups
One of the ACC’s recent Final Four participants will play at Kentucky in the first ACC-SEC Challenge men’s basketball event this November, but it’s not a highly speculated game involving Duke or North Carolina.
While Miami is going to face the Wildcats for a 7:30 p.m. game on Nov. 28, Duke travels to Arkansas and North Carolina plays Tennessee in Chapel Hill in the made-for-TV event the following night.
N.C. State will travel to Mississippi on Nov. 28 for a 9 p.m. game while Florida plays at Wake Forest on Nov. 29 at 7:15 p.m.
ESPN formed the ACC-SEC Challenge after its long-running and popular ACC-Big Ten Challenge ended with last season’s event. That occurred because the Big Ten signed a new media rights deal that doesn’t include ESPN.
Other Nov. 28 matchups include: LSU at Syracuse, Notre Dame at South Carolina, Mississippi State at Georgia Tech and Missouri at Pittsburgh at 7 p.m. and Clemson at Alabama at 9:30 p.m.
Other Nov. 29 games include: Texas A&M at Virginia at 7:15 p.m., Virginia Tech at Auburn, Georgia at Florida State and Boston College at Vanderbilt at 9:15 p.m.
Network assignments will be finalized at a later date but the games will be carried on ESPN’s channels, including ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ACC Network and SEC Network.
The Duke-Arkansas matchup on Nov. 29 in Fayetteville, Arkansas, will mark the first time the two program have played a game on one of the team’s home court. All four previous games have been on neutral courts, including three NCAA Tournament games. Duke topped Arkansas, 78-69, at San Francisco in the West Regional final in 2022.
The Blue Devils and Razorbacks twice met in the Final Four, with Duke winning 97-83 in 1990 in the national semifinals at Denver and Arkansas winning 76-72 in the 1994 national championship game at Charlotte.
Tennessee and North Carolina have played 12 times with the Tar Heels winning 10 of them. UNC is unbeaten in three games with Volunteers at Chapel Hill, including a 73-71 win on Dec. 11, 2016.
N.C. State and Mississippi will meet for just the fourth time and the first time in regular-season play. The previous meetings were in the 1928 and 1929 Southern Conference tournaments and the 2000 National Invitation Tournament.
The women’s pairings for the ACC-SEC Challenge include five games on Nov. 29, including N.C. State hosting Vanderbilt at 7:15 p.m. Other games that night have Florida at Georgia Tech and Notre Dame at Tennessee at 5 p.m., Miami at Mississippi State at 7:15 p.m. and Louisville at Mississippi at 9:15 p.m.
On Nov. 30, Duke plays at Georgia at 5 p.m. while UNC welcomes South Carolina to Chapel Hill at 7:15 p.m.
Other games that night include Missouri at Virginia at 5 p.m., Alabama at Syracuse, Arkansas at Florida State and Boston College at Kentucky at 7 p.m., Texas A&M at Wake Forest, Virginia Tech at LSU and Clemson at Auburn at 9 p.m.
