SEC/ACC CHALLENGE: Kentucky Men Play Virginia; UK Women Face Clemson
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LEXINGTON, Ky. – The Kentucky men’s basketball program will travel to Virginia on Dec. 2 as part of the SEC/ACC Challenge the leagues announced on Friday. A TV designation and tip time will be announced at a later date.
This marks the fourth installment of the event between the two conferences. Kentucky has faced a different Atlantic Coast Conference program in all four years of the challenge. UK took on Miami at home in the inaugural edition of the event. The Cats then traveled to Clemson in 2024-25 and hosted North Carolina in 2025-26.
UK leads the series with the Cavaliers by a 6-3 margin. This season’s matchup will mark the first time the programs will meet on the hardwood since the 2002-03 season at the Maui Invitational. The Cavaliers snapped a six-game winning streak by the Wildcats with a 75-61 win on the Hawaiian island. Kentucky has not played in Charlottesville, Virginia, since the 1966-67 season.
Virginia is coming off a 30-6 season under first-year head coach Ryan Odom. The Cavaliers reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament after advancing to the championship game of the ACC Tournament. Thijs De Ridder, a 6-foot-9 sophomore, returns to headline Virginia’s roster. He averaged a team-high 15.6 points per game and a team-best 6.2 rebounds per game.
With the road matchup against Virginia, Kentucky is now set to take on three ACC opponents in 2026-27.
UK is also slated to host Louisville on Dec. 12 and will play North Carolina in the CBS Sports Classic on Dec. 19 in New York.
KENTUCKY WOMEN FACE CLEMSON AT RUPP ARENA
UK women’s basketball team will play host to Clemson on Thursday, Dec. 3 at Rupp Arena in Central Bank Center as part of the fourth-annual Southeastern Conference/Atlantic Coast Conference Challenge.
The two programs have some familiarity, with Tigers’ head coach Shawn Poppie recently spending six seasons as an assistant and associate head coach under Kenny Brooks at Virginia Tech from 2016-21.
Kentucky and Clemson will be meeting for just the second time in program history, and the first time since the turn of the millennium.
The Wildcats trail the all-time series with the Tigers, 0-1. Their lone meeting came more than two decades ago on Nov. 26, 1999, in the Coaches vs. Cancer Challenge at the Hartford Civic Center in Hartford, Connecticut. The Wildcats dropped to the Tigers, 70-65, on the neutral floor.
The tip time and network designation for this season’s matchup will be announced at a later date.
The Wildcats are hosting the SEC/ACC Challenge for the first time in three seasons after being sent on the road in Brooks’ first two seasons in the Bluegrass. The Cats have a 2-1 record in SEC/ACC Challenges, defeating Boston College at home (Clive M. Beck Center) in 2023-24 before falling at ranked-North Carolina in Carmichael Arena in 2024-25. The Cats defeated Miami, 64-48, in Coral Gables, Florida, last season.
UK has released three game announcements thus far this season – all against ACC programs.
Kentucky announced earlier this week it will play host to Louisville at Rupp Arena on Dec. 9. It also was previously released that Kentucky will play NC State in the 2026 Ally Tipoff in the fall, while the date, time and TV designation will come soon.
The team is due back to campus later this month before summer workouts start up in late June.
