We play at Va

[moses1uk]

2026 ACC/SEC Challenge Games​

• Arkansas at North Carolina
• Auburn at Clemson
• Duke at Florida
• Boston College at Georgia
• Wake Forest at LSU
• Pitt at Missouri
• Syracuse at Oklahoma
• Ole Miss at Virginia Tech
• South Carolina at NC State
• Florida State at Tennessee
• Texas at Louisville
• Alabama at Miami
• Kentucky at Virginia
• Georgia Tech at Mississippi State
• Stanford at Texas A&M
• Vanderbilt at Notre Dame

 

[kywildcat1021979]

VA? Man, I figured we'd get better than that.

 

[ukfan042]

Planning to make the trip! Have always wanted to see a game out there

 

[0r1c]

VA? Man, I figured we'd get better than that.

I think they are preseason top 10-ish

 

[Blue Jesus]

2026 ACC/SEC Challenge Games​

• Arkansas at North Carolina
• Auburn at Clemson
• Duke at Florida
• Boston College at Georgia
• Wake Forest at LSU
• Pitt at Missouri
• Syracuse at Oklahoma
• Ole Miss at Virginia Tech
• South Carolina at NC State
• Florida State at Tennessee
• Texas at Louisville
• Alabama at Miami
• Kentucky at Virginia
• Georgia Tech at Mississippi State
• Stanford at Texas A&M
• Vanderbilt at Notre Dame

I had a feeling we'd get UVA. It fits the formula from past years with Miami and Clemson. Match UK with the best team that isn't going to draw an audience on its own.

 

[theBlues]

I'll take it; was expecting at Duke.

 

[KyKevin]

VA? Man, I figured we'd get better than that.

Virginia will be a tough one, on there home court. If we go get that one, we are going to be alright.

 

[JASUN74]

2026 ACC/SEC Challenge Games​

• Arkansas at North Carolina
• Auburn at Clemson
• Duke at Florida
• Boston College at Georgia
• Wake Forest at LSU
• Pitt at Missouri
• Syracuse at Oklahoma
• Ole Miss at Virginia Tech
• South Carolina at NC State
• Florida State at Tennessee
• Texas at Louisville
• Alabama at Miami
• Kentucky at Virginia
• Georgia Tech at Mississippi State
• Stanford at Texas A&M
• Vanderbilt at Notre Dame

SEC 12-4. ACC is really top heavy looks like and the SEC Looks tough all the way down to me. Going to be a fun battle between the two conferences for sure.

 

[Blue Jesus]

I had a feeling we'd get UVA. It fits the formula from past years with Miami and Clemson. Match UK with the best team that isn't going to draw an audience on its own.

Submitting my picks for review by the board. Winners in bold:

• Arkansas at North Carolina
• Auburn at Clemson
• Duke at Florida
• Boston College at Georgia
• Wake Forest at LSU
• Pitt at Missouri
• Syracuse at Oklahoma
• Ole Miss at Virginia Tech
• South Carolina at NC State
• Florida State at Tennessee
• Texas at Louisville
• Alabama at Miami
• Kentucky at Virginia
• Georgia Tech at Mississippi State
• Stanford at Texas A&M
• Vanderbilt at Notre Dame

SEC 11
ACC 5

 

[JASUN74]

VA? Man, I figured we'd get better than that.

Going to be a tough game. Cats by 68 though. . Seriously, it’s going to be a barn burner.

 

[JASUN74]

Submitting my picks for review by the board. Winners in bold:

• Arkansas at North Carolina
• Auburn at Clemson
• Duke at Florida
• Boston College at Georgia
• Wake Forest at LSU
• Pitt at Missouri
• Syracuse at Oklahoma
• Ole Miss at Virginia Tech
• South Carolina at NC State
• Florida State at Tennessee
• Texas at Louisville
• Alabama at Miami
• Kentucky at Virginia
• Georgia Tech at Mississippi State
• Stanford at Texas A&M
• Vanderbilt at Notre Dame

SEC 11
ACC 5

I had the same wins except for Texas. I think their size gets to Louisville and wears them down. Really good matchup and will be one of the funniest games to watch. Appreciate the effort here.

 

[preacherfan]

So, we are 6 and 3 against Virginia but have only played them ONE time since 1966 and we lost that one in 2002. If you had asked me to guess how many times we have played them since 1966 I would have probably said 4 or 5 times. I can't believe that we have so rarely played a team that was in the national spotlight a number of times over the years that is so close geographically.

 

[TarHeelInCharlotte]

I had a feeling we'd get UVA. It fits the formula from past years with Miami and Clemson. Match UK with the best team that isn't going to draw an audience on its own.

You literally hosted UNC last season

 

[TarHeelInCharlotte]

2026 ACC/SEC Challenge Games​

• Arkansas at North Carolina
• Auburn at Clemson
• Duke at Florida
• Boston College at Georgia
• Wake Forest at LSU
• Pitt at Missouri
• Syracuse at Oklahoma
• Ole Miss at Virginia Tech
• South Carolina at NC State
• Florida State at Tennessee
• Texas at Louisville
• Alabama at Miami
• Kentucky at Virginia
• Georgia Tech at Mississippi State
• Stanford at Texas A&M
• Vanderbilt at Notre Dame

Kind of lame they didn't send you guys to Chapel Hill after we came to Rupp last season. Seemed like an obvious matchup to me.

Oh well. Guess we'll see how another Calipari team of freshmen handles Mike Malone's roster of mostly experienced players. This is the first time Arkansas has ever been to Chapel Hill.

 

[TarHeelInCharlotte]

VA? Man, I figured we'd get better than that.

UVA is one of the few teams that returned every available player from last season.

 

[Anon1751335390]

UVA is probably gonna be in the preseason top 15 and a top 3 team in the ACC. We'd be an underdog against them if it were the first game of the season.

 

[Tim0808]

9-7 SEC

 

[taiza67]

They had to go with Duke/Florida though. Outside of Duke last year the ACC kinda stunk. Florida is the presumptive preseason favorite?

 

[TarHeelInCharlotte]

UVA is probably gonna be in the preseason top 15 and a top 3 team in the ACC. We'd be an underdog against them if it were the first game of the season.

The best things about preseason expectations is they are meaningless. UVA returns all available players that didn't graduate, but they didn't add anyone worthwhile through the portal or recruiting class. So they'll have experience, but their overall talent level isn't as good as UK. And like you said, if it was the first game they'd be favored bc of the experience factor. But a game in December could go either way.

As for their ACC finish, the unbalanced ACC schedule will dramatically affect that. They have to play the dookies twice. Their only games against UNC, Miami, and Clemson are road games. And the team they don't play at all this year is Wake Forest (so they are robbed of that surefire win.) So among the top 6 projected ACC teams they have probably the least favorable schedule.

 

[TarHeelInCharlotte]

They had to go with Duke/Florida though. Outside of Duke last year the ACC kinda stunk. Florida is the presumptive preseason favorite?

What was the final record in the challenge last season? 9-7 in favor of the SEC?

 

[ComebackCats98]

I actually like playing a team we haven’t played a ton historically. Plus Virginia should be good.

 

[UKWildcats1987]

I like playing a variety of teams in this.

I think it is a winnable game but if that is our first road game its gonna be a challenge.

I see we play IU in Indy earlier but thats not a true road game.

 

[jedwar]

LSU vs NCST was a big miss. Why not.

 

[whack0001]

Hell yeah I live in Virginia now. I might try to go

 

[phunterd]

Kind of lame they didn't send you guys to Chapel Hill after we came to Rupp last season. Seemed like an obvious matchup to me.

Oh well. Guess we'll see how another Calipari team of freshmen handles Mike Malone's roster of mostly experienced players. This is the first time Arkansas has ever been to Chapel Hill.

We did not draw UNC because we’re playing each other in the CBS Sports Classic.

 

[FurdTurgason]

Kind of lame they didn't send you guys to Chapel Hill after we came to Rupp last season. Seemed like an obvious matchup to me.

Oh well. Guess we'll see how another Calipari team of freshmen handles Mike Malone's roster of mostly experienced players. This is the first time Arkansas has ever been to Chapel Hill.

That's surprising. What other top level programs have never come there?

 

[CB3UK]

KENTUCKY: Telling Virginia to f*ck off since 1792.

 

[Son_Of_Saul]

When are we finally going to see Duke @ Kentucky?

It's the one game the NCAA keeps ducking.

 

[Padsfs07]

Kind of lame they didn't send you guys to Chapel Hill after we came to Rupp last season. Seemed like an obvious matchup to me.

Oh well. Guess we'll see how another Calipari team of freshmen handles Mike Malone's roster of mostly experienced players. This is the first time Arkansas has ever been to Chapel Hill.

We are already playing you all this season.

 

[TheApostleSaulSmith]

Thank god, an easy win.

 

[Padsfs07]

UVA is probably gonna be in the preseason top 15 and a top 3 team in the ACC. We'd be an underdog against them if it were the first game of the season.

Borzello has them at #14 and us at #17.

 

[SenseMaker_Cats]

LSU vs NCST was a big miss. Why not.

I like the cut of your jib.

 

[Blue Jesus]

You literally hosted UNC last season

Right, like I said they have UK play teams that won’t draw an audience on their own…




…kidding, but the previous season the ACC was dog water and the only teams to finish ranked were Duke (not going to match up the two biggest draws unfortunately), UofL (already scheduled of course), and Clemson (we just played them). UNC was coming off a pretty mediocre season, and there weren’t many other options. But yes in general I agree, last year doesn’t quite fit the pattern.

 

[TheApostleSaulSmith]

You literally hosted UNC last season

That was one of the worst basketball games I've ever seen in my life.

 

[Blue Jesus]

They had to go with Duke/Florida though. Outside of Duke last year the ACC kinda stunk. Florida is the presumptive preseason favorite?

Yeah that was an obvious pairing and it may be the most anticipated match-up of the regular season.

 

[Padsfs07]

UVA is one of the few teams that returned every available player from last season.

That's sort of like Louisville and Indiana though, all three programs lost half a dozen guys who used all their eligibility/graduated. The difference is that UVA brought back 4 rotation players out of 9.

They did have a big hole at the wing/SG and got three nice players from the portal in Dixon, Harmon, and Vide...Vide committed last night or today I believe. Former UCLA Bruin.

 

[Blue Jesus]

I actually like playing a team we haven’t played a ton historically. Plus Virginia should be good.

All my extended family is from Virginia and a handful went to UVA, so I’ve always wanted to play them more, or ever. Although none of them really care about basketball lol

 

[TheApostleSaulSmith]

All my extended family is from Virginia and a handful went to UVA, so I’ve always wanted to play them more, or ever. Although none of them really care about basketball lol

nvm i should read the thread

 

[cawoodsct]

I like it. 6-3 all time, so we haven't played much and only 5 times since 1960's.

 

[3 Putts]

I’m an hour south of Charlottesville, just plan ahead if you’re coming as it’s not a metropolis and lodging will more than likely be scarce. This link will give you an idea what to expect on game day:

https://virginiasports.com/mens-basketball-gameday