The ACC and the SEC decided to create an annual SEC/ACC Basketball Challenge, in which each conference sends one team to play the other, with each conference having an equal amount of hosts as visiting teams. Both men's and women's basketball take part in this challenge, and currently, with only one year under their belt for this challenge, the record is 7-7 for both men and women. Neither conference currently holds the lead over the other. This only further cements that these are two of the premiere basketball conferences.
There will be 16 total games this year in the challenge taking place over two different days: December 4th and December 5th (on the women's side). Last year, Kentucky faced off against Boston College and beat the Eagles 85-83. Current Kentucky head coach Kenny Brooks coached in this challenge last year for the Virginia Cavaliers; he also won a game but for the ACC, defeating Missouri 87-81 in overtime.
This year, the Kentucky Wildcats women's team will travel to Chapel Hill to take on the North Carolina Tar Heels. This ranked-on-ranked matchup will be featured on ESPN2 at 5 p.m. EST. You can stream the game or watch it online here. What are all the matchups?
Wednesday, December 4:
Oklahoma at Louisville, 5 p.m., ESPN2
Vanderbilt at Miami, 5 p.m., ACCN
Virginia Tech at Georgia, 5 p.m., SECN
Mississippi State at Georgia Tech, 7:15 p.m., ACCN
Florida State at Tennessee, 7:15 p.m., SECN
Syracuse at Texas A&M, 7:15 p.m., ESPNU
Thursday, December 5:
Kentucky at North Carolina, 5 p.m., ESPN2
Auburn at Virginia, 6 p.m., ACCN
Texas at Notre Dame, 7 p.m., ESPN
Mississippi at NC State, 7 p.m., ESPN2
Boston College at Arkansas, 7 p.m., SECN
Florida at Clemson, 8 p.m., ACCN
Duke at South Carolina, 9 p.m., ESPN
Alabama at California, 9 p.m., ESPNU
Stanford at LSU, 9 p.m., ESPN2
SMU at Missouri, 9 p.m., SECN
There will be many fantastic games in this series, and Kentucky vs. North Carolina may prove to be one of the best. This will be a great test for both conferences before they begin conference play and face off against each other. You can find the men's matchups here.