Kentucky's matchup in the 2026 ACC/SEC Challenge has been revealed
Kentucky men’s basketball is heading to Charlottesville next season.
According to college hoops insider Jon Rothstein, the Wildcats are scheduled to take on the Virginia Cavaliers in the 2026 ACC/SEC Challenge. The game will take place at John Paul Jones Arena on Wednesday, December 2. This year’s ACC/SEC Challenge will take place over two days, with 11 games on Tuesday and five more games on Wednesday.
The event is loaded with potentially awesome games. Other notable matchups include Arkansas-North Carolina, Duke-Florida, Texas-Louisville, and Alabama-Miami (FL). Below is the full ACC/SEC Challenge schedule:
- 1New
Mark Pope in Mexico
Recruiting for the Cats
- 2Trending
Cheaper concessions 👏
coming to UK's on-campus venues
- 3Trending
Official Visitors on Campus
Talented prospects arrive in Lexington
- 4
KAT
Playing like the Finals MVP.
- 5Hot
Star-Studded Guest List
For Will Stein's big recruiting weekend.
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Tuesday, Dec. 1
- 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
Wednesday, Dec. 2
- Alabama at Miami
- Kentucky at Virginia
- Georgia Tech at Mississippi State
- Stanford at Texas A&M
- Vanderbilt at Notre Dame
Per BigBlueHistory.net, Kentucky is 6-3 all-time against Virginia, the last meeting coming at the Maui Classic in 2002. UK lost that game 75-61, but had won the previous six meetings. The first-ever matchup between the two was all the way back in 1914. Louie Dampier dropped 31 points on the Cavaliers during a 104-84 win in 1966.
Virginia is about to enter season two of the Ryan Odom era, who replaced the great Tony Bennett as the Cavaliers’ full-time head coach in 2025-26. Odom posted a 30-6 record (15-3 ACC) in his debut year, finishing second in the ACC standings. Virginia, which rostered former Wildcat center/soon-to-be NBA player, Ugonna Onyenso, lost in the Round of 32 in the NCAA Tournament to Tennessee.
Kentucky’s 2026-27 basketball schedule as we know it
- vs. Kansas in the Champions Classic in Chicago (Tuesday, November 10)
- @ Indiana in Indianapolis (Friday, November 20)
- vs. Louisville in Rupp Arena (Saturday, December 12)
- vs. North Carolina in the CBS Sports Classic in New York (Saturday, December 19)
- @ Virginia in the ACC/SEC Challenge (Wednesday, December 2)
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