The blue-blood rivalry returns.
We now know who the Kentucky Wildcats will face in the SEC – ACC Challenge, and it’s one of the best rivalries in the sport.
According to Jon Rothstein, Kentucky will host the North Carolina Tar Heels at Rupp Arena. It will mark the first matchup in this blue-blood rivalry in the Mark Pope era. The two programs last played in the 2023 CBS Sports Classic, a narrow Wildcat victory over a Tar Heels squad that earned a 1-seed in the NCAA Tournament.
Kentucky has not hosted UNC since the 2014-15 season. That was a fun year.
Other juicy matchups include Florida at Duke, NC State at Auburn, and Louisville at Arkansas. I’m guessing there may be a few Kentucky fans watching that one.
Kentucky was 8-4 vs. North Carolina under John Calipari and is 18-25 all-time in the series.
2025 SEC – ACC Challenge Games
- North Carolina at Kentucky
- Florida at Duke
- Virginia at Texas
- NC State at Auburn
- Clemson at Alabama
- Louisville at Arkansas
- Oklahoma at Wake Forest
- SMU at Vanderbilt
- Texas A&M at Pitt
- Mississippi State at Georgia Tech
- Miami at Ole Miss
- LSU at Boston College
- Virginia Tech at South Carolina
- Tennessee at Syracuse
- Missouri at Notre Dame
- Georgia at Florida State