ESPN Announces ACC/SEC Challenge Beginning in 2023

Plenty of trips to Durham and Chapel Hill could be in Kentucky's future.

Kentucky will be apart of a new conference challenge in college basketball beginning next season. 

It has been officially announced that this season will be the final year of the Big 12 / SEC Challenge. It'll be the ACC / SEC Challenge moving forward upon the start of the 2023-24 season. Andy Katz reported that the challenge will take place the week after Thanksgiving. 

Kentucky has still found semi-regular matchup against the likes of Duke and North Carolina through the Champions Classic and CBS Sports Classic, but this now presents the opportunity of home games between the schools. 

Both SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey and ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips provided statements in an ESPN press release: 

Sankey: 

“We are excited women’s and men’s basketball student-athletes will have the opportunity to compete with their colleagues from the ACC as we initiate a new Basketball Challenge experience. I appreciate the collaboration of Jim Phillips and the ACC members, along with our broadcast partner ESPN, to make possible the SEC/ACC Basketball Challenge which will provide our fans with exciting basketball early in the 2023-24 season. I also thank the Big 12 for the many great challenge games we experienced together in past years.”

Phillips: 

“The future ACC-SEC Men’s and Women’s Basketball Challenges will be outstanding events for our student-athletes, member institutions and fans. The SEC, led by Greg Sankey, and our partners at ESPN have been terrific, and there’s great excitement for the first annual ACC/SEC Challenge next season. As part of this announcement, we’d like to acknowledge the Big Ten for its partnership on the ACC/B1G Challenge that spanned more than 20 years.”

Kentucky's final game in the Big 12 / SEC Challenge will come at home against the Kansas Jayhawks on Jan. 28. 

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