Kentucky Will Travel to Virginia for SEC/ACC Challenge

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 1965-66 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.

For the latest on the Kentucky men’s basketball team, follow @KentuckyMBB on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok, and on the web at UKathletics.com.