ACC/SEC Challenge matchups: Duke-Arkansas, UNC-Tennessee highlight new event

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA - MARCH 26: JD Notae #1 of the Arkansas Razorbacks goes up for a shot in front of Mark Williams #15 of the Duke Blue Devils during the second half in the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament Elite 8 Round at Chase Center on March 26, 2022 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)
By Brendan Marks
Jun 28, 2023

The inaugural men’s ACC/SEC Challenge will feature Duke traveling to Arkansas, Tennessee traveling to North Carolina and Kentucky hosting Final Four participant Miami in Rupp Arena, the leagues announced Wednesday. The event will consist of 14 games played over Nov. 28-29 this season. Here’s what you need to know:

  • Duke and Arkansas last met in the 2022 Elite Eight, a 78-69 win that sent the Blue Devils to the Final Four in Mike Krzyzewski’s final season as coach.
  • The ACC/SEC Challenge is taking the place of the ACC/Big Ten Challenge, a nonconference schedule staple for the previous 24 seasons. The Big 12/SEC Challenge also ended last season.
  • Because the ACC has 15 basketball-playing members and the SEC has 14, Louisville will be the lone conference member without a game in the men’s event.
  • The women’s challenge is headlined by defending national champion LSU hosting Virginia Tech, Louisville at Ole Miss and Notre Dame-Tennessee.

Which men’s Challenge matchups are most intriguing?

The ones with the best teams, duh. So we’re looking hard here at a trio of games: Tennessee at North Carolina, Duke at Arkansas, and Miami at Kentucky. (Although don’t count out Texas A&M vs. Virginia, as former Virginia Tech coach Buzz Williams returns to the Commonwealth with arguably the deepest team in the SEC.) That said, it helps when those marquee matchups come with a little bit of history, too.

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The Vols and Tar Heels last met in the Hall of Fame Tip-Off in 2021. Tennessee embarrassed UNC that evening, 89-72, behind 35 combined points from Zakai Zeigler and Santiago Vescovi — both of whom are still on Rick Barnes’ squad — but that blowout was a catalyst of sorts for North Carolina’s defensive improvement, which helped carry Hubert Davis’ first team to the national title game. Duke and Arkansas have recent history, too, having met in the Elite Eight two seasons ago, in what turned out to be the final win of Krzyzewski’s Hall of Fame career. (The Blue Devils and Razorbacks also famously met in the 1994 national championship game, which Arkansas won after a late Scotty Thurman 3-pointer.)

Then there’s Miami-Kentucky, which pits a traditional blue blood against one of the best teams in the country the last two seasons. The Hurricanes are coming off their best season in program history, which culminated with the program’s first Final Four berth, and return a trio of key players — Nijel Pack, Norchad Omier, and Wooga Poplar. Kentucky, on the other hand, will still be breaking in a freshman-laden lineup by the time it hosts the U.

Why is this event replacing the ACC/Big Ten Challenge?

For the same reason as every other significant move in college athletics: television. ESPN played a large role in the creation of the ACC/Big Ten Challenge back in 1999, when it held media rights deals with both conferences. That gave the network rights to airing all of those games, and the event quickly became among the most popular nonconference series in the sport. However, ESPN’s television partnership with the Big Ten ended in November, which meant the end of the longest-running interconference series in the history of college basketball.

Of course, the end of that media rights deal doesn’t mean there isn’t still a robust market for marquee nonconference basketball games; if anything, they’ve taken on increased importance the last two seasons, with the advent and implementation of the NET. How teams perform in the nonconference plays an outsized role in establishing their NET rankings, which are then less flexible once conference play begins. Just ask the ACC, which has struggled dramatically in nonconference play the last two seasons, how difficult it is to improve a NET ranking once February rolls around and you’re stuck playing conference games. The inaugural ACC/SEC Challenge will take place at about the same point in the schedule as the ACC/Big Ten Challenge did, giving it similar importance to both leagues’ nonconference records.

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Full list of matchups

(All times ET)

Tuesday, Nov. 28

Syracuse vs. LSU, 7 p.m.
Pitt vs. Missouri, 7 p.m.
Georgia Tech vs. Mississippi State, 7 p.m.
South Carolina vs. Notre Dame, 7 p.m.
Kentucky vs. Miami, 7:30 p.m.
Ole Miss vs. NC State, 9 p.m.
Alabama vs. Clemson, 9:30 p.m.

Wednesday, Nov. 29

North Carolina vs. Tennessee, 7:15 p.m.
Virginia vs. Texas A&M, 7:15 p.m.
Wake Forest vs. Florida, 7:15 p.m.
Arkansas vs. Duke, 9:15 p.m.
Auburn vs. Virginia Tech, 9:15 p.m.
Florida State vs. Georgia, 9:15 p.m.
Vanderbilt vs. Boston College, 9:15 p.m.

ACC/SEC Women’s Challenge matchups

Wednesday, Nov. 29
Florida at Georgia Tech, 5 p.m.
Notre Dame at Tennessee, 5 p.m.
Vanderbilt at NC State, 7:15 p.m.
Miami at Mississippi State, 7:15 p.m.
Louisville at Ole Miss, 9:15 p.m.

Thursday, Nov. 30
Missouri at Virginia, 5 p.m.
Duke at Georgia, 5 p.m.
Alabama at Syracuse, 7 p.m.
South Carolina at North Carolina, 7 p.m.
Arkansas at Florida State, 7 p.m.
Boston College at Kentucky, 7 p.m.
Texas A&M at Wake Forest, 9 p.m.
Virginia Tech at LSU, 9 p.m.
Clemson at Auburn, 9 p.m.

(Photo: Ezra Shaw / Getty Images)

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Brendan Marks

Brendan Marks covers Duke and North Carolina basketball for The Athletic. He previously worked at The Charlotte Observer as a Carolina Panthers beat reporter, and his writing has also appeared in Sports Illustrated, The Boston Globe and The Baltimore Sun. He's a native of Raleigh, N.C.