Duke stays home, NC State, UNC head on the road in 2025 ACC-SEC Challenge
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- Duke hosts Florida while UNC and NC State face road tests in ACC-SEC event.
- ACC holds 9-21 all-time record in the Challenge, including 2-14 in 2024.
- Clemson only ACC team with 2-0 record; NC State remains winless historically.
Matchups for the 2025-26 men’s basketball ACC-SEC Challenge have been set as the ACC seeks to improve on its dismal performance in last year’s event.
Duke will play at home for the second consecutive year in the event while North Carolina and N.C. State have road games and Wake Forest draws a home game.
Duke, coming off a Final Four run, is set to host reigning national champion Florida at Cameron Indoor Stadium. N.C. State, under first-year head coach Will Wade, will travel to face Auburn. North Carolina will play at Kentucky. Wake Forest is also set to host Oklahoma. Auburn, Kentucky and Oklahoma are also coming off NCAA Tournament appearances. The Tigers were a Final Four team, while Kentucky was a Sweet 16 team and Oklahoma made a first-round exit.
Duke and Wake Forest are scheduled to play Dec. 2, while N.C. State and UNC will take on their SEC opponents Dec. 3.
This is the third consecutive ACC-SEC Challenge, in which the ACC has a 9-21 record. That included a 14-2 SEC win last year where only Duke and Clemson claimed ACC wins.
The Tar Heels and Blue Devils are 1-1 in their ACC-SEC Challenge appearances. Carolina defeated Tennessee, 100-92, in 2023 but lost to Alabama, 94-79, last year. Both games were held at the Dean Smith Center.
Duke fell to Arkansas, 80-75, in 2023 at Bud Walton Arena. The Blue Devils defeated Auburn, 84-78, at home last season.
N.C. State has never won an ACC-SEC Challenge game. The Wolfpack was blown out at Ole Miss in 2023 and lost by four points to Texas at home in 2024.
Wake Forest is also 1-1 in the challenge. The Demon Deacons lost to Texas A&M, 57-44, in College Station, Texas, last season but defeated Florida, 82-71, at home a season prior.
Last season, the ACC went 2-14 after Duke and Clemson were the only teams to pick up wins. Clemson upset Kentucky, 70-66, on the road.
A year prior, the two conferences split the event with a 7-7 record. UNC, Clemson, Georgia Tech, Wake Forest, Virginia, Boston College and Syracuse all picked up wins in the 2023 iteration.
Clemson is the only team in the ACC to win both of its previous games against the SEC.
Times and television designations will be announced at a later date.
Because the SEC has 16 teams and the ACC 18, two ACC teams don’t participate each year. Those schools are Cal and Stanford this year.
ACC-SEC Challenge men’s basketball pairings
Dec. 2
Florida at Duke
North Carolina at Kentucky
Tennessee at Syracuse
Texas A&M at Pitt
Missouri at Notre Dame
Georgia at Florida State
Oklahoma at Wake Forest
Miami at Ole Miss
Virginia Tech at South Carolina
Dec. 3
Virginia at Texas
N.C. State at Auburn
Clemson at Alabama
Louisville at Arkansas
SMU at Vanderbilt
Mississippi State at Georgia Tech
LSU at Boston College
This story was originally published June 12, 2025 at 10:38 AM.
