The UNC men’s basketball team will visit Kentucky the night of Tuesday, December 2 and the UNC women’s team will visit Texas the night of Thursday, December 4 as part of the 2025 ACC-SEC Challenge, ESPN announced Thursday.

The men’s team’s clash with the Wildcats will be the first matchup between the two teams since Kentucky hired head coach Mark Pope. The 2025-26 season will be Pope’s second in Lexington following the departure of longtime head coach John Calipari. The game would also be the first time UNC has visited Kentucky’s Rupp Arena since the 2014-15 season, when the top-ranked Wildcats won 84-70.

In past seasons, the two programs maintained a home-and-home series, with the two teams visiting each other in corresponding years. However, that deal was abandoned following the inception of the CBS Sports Classic, a four-team event featuring both the Wildcats and Tar Heels. The teams have not played on each others’ campuses since the matchup in Lexington in 2014.

Overall, UNC has dropped seven of its last 10 meetings with Kentucky, including both games under head coach Hubert Davis. Carolina has not beaten the Wildcats on the road since 2007, having lost its last three games at Rupp Arena.

On the women’s side, Carolina will play in Austin for the first time in program history. It’s just the second ever meeting between the Tar Heels and Longhorns; UNC defeated Texas 75-73 on January 11, 1981 in Chapel Hill.

The Longhorns are coming off two consecutive 30-win seasons. In its first year in the SEC in 2024-25, Texas finished 35-4 overall and 15-1 in league play on its way to a second consecutive No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament an appearance in the Final Four. Texas has reached at least the Elite Eight in four of the last five NCAA Tournaments.

The 2025-26 season will be the third featuring the ACC-SEC Challenge. The UNC men have split their first two games of the annual event, beating Tennessee in 2023 and falling to Alabama in 2024. Both games were in Chapel Hill. The women are also 1-1, losing to South Carolina in 2023 and beating Kentucky in 2024.

 

Featured image via Associated Press/Brynn Anderson

Chapelboro.com does not charge subscription fees, and you can directly support our efforts in local journalism here. Want more of what you see on Chapelboro? Let us bring free local news and community information to you by signing up for our newsletter.

Related Stories
‹
Report: UNC Men's Basketball Hiring Former Tar Heel Brandon Robinson to Staff
According to a report from Inside Carolina, former UNC men’s basketball player Brandon Robinson is set to join head coach Michael Malone’s staff in Chapel Hill for the upcoming season. Robinson played four years in Chapel Hill and was a freshman on UNC’s 2016-17 national championship team. He played in 130 total games during his […]
Former LSU Signee Kevin Thomas Commits to UNC Men's Basketball
Kevin Thomas, a four-star recruit who initially signed with LSU but decommitted in March, has now committed to head coach Michael Malone and UNC. View this post on Instagram Thomas, a 6-foot-6 wing from Fort Lauderdale, FL, committed to and signed with LSU last fall. But following the Tigers’ firing of head coach Matt McMahon, […]
Freshmen, Transfers and More: Every Newcomer Joining UNC Men's Basketball for the 2026-27 Season
As Michael Malone embarks on his first season as the head coach of the UNC men’s basketball program, he’s gotten busy securing the additions of several newcomers to the program. Malone and his staff have mined from traditional high school recruiting and the transfer portal to fill out Carolina’s roster, and that work is continuing […]
Report: UNC Men's Basketball Hiring Bryan Tibaldi as Assistant Coach
According to a report from Inside Carolina, Bryan Tibaldi, who spent the 2025-26 season as an assistant coach at Providence, will join head coach Michael Malone’s UNC staff in the same position. Prior to arriving at Providence, Tibaldi had spent several years in the Cleveland Cavaliers organization in the NBA. Cleveland initially hired Tibaldi as […]
Report: Former Tar Heel Deon Thompson to Join UNC Men's Basketball Coaching Staff
According to a report from Inside Carolina Tuesday morning, former player Deon Thompson is set to join UNC men’s basketball head coach Michael Malone’s staff in Chapel Hill. Thompson was a four-year standout for the Tar Heels, appearing in 152 games, starting 113 and helping UNC win the 2009 national championship. Playing alongside Tyler Hansbrough […]
Multiple UNC Teams Post Perfect Academic Progress Rates, New Report Says
Several UNC sports programs posted perfect single-year and multi-year academic progress rates for the 2024-25 academic year, according to the NCAA’s latest report. Academic progress rate (APR) is used to track performance of scholarship students who compete on varsity teams, and the score measures eligibility and retention each semester. A perfect score is 1000, and […]
Chansky's Notebook: Draft Dodgers?
Bill Belichick and Michael Malone have found themselves in the same undesirable dilemma: neither has any draft picks.
Update: Florida Atlantic's Maxim Logue No Longer Expected to Join UNC
Update: Inside Carolina reported Thursday afternoon that Florida Atlantic’s Maxim Logue is “no longer expected” to transfer to UNC this offseason. Breaking: Maxim Logue is no longer expected to transfer to UNC, sources have confirmed. The Florida Atlantic reserve post player's commitment was announced on April 21. Story: https://t.co/eusOm2uKnu pic.twitter.com/tmAiJa0DXu — InsideCarolina (@InsideCarolina) April 30, […]
International Prospect Sayon Keita Commits to UNC Men's Basketball
Sayon Keita, a seven-foot center currently playing with FC Barcelona in Spain, has committed to the UNC men’s basketball program for the 2026-27 season. View this post on Instagram Keita, originally from Bamako, Mali, is currently 18 years old and will arrive in Chapel Hill with multiple years of eligibility. But the belief is he […]
Northwestern's Cade Bennerman Announces Commitment to UNC Men's Basketball
Cade Bennerman, who spent his freshman season at Northwestern, announced his commitment to UNC out of the transfer portal Monday. Bennerman, a seven-foot center, arrived at Northwestern as a three-star recruit out of high school who 247 Sports ranked as the No. 1 player in the state of Tennessee. He was a star at Nashville’s […]
›