The matchups have been set for both the UNC men’s and women’s basketball programs in the upcoming ACC-SEC Challenge: the men will host Arkansas on Tuesday, Dec. 1 at the Smith Center, while the women will host LSU on Wednesday, Dec. 2 at Carmichael Arena.
On the men’s side, UNC has won five consecutive meetings against Arkansas and has an 8-3 all-time record against the Razorbacks. The last Arkansas win came in the 1995 national semifinals. The upcoming season’s meeting will be the first time ever Carolina has hosted the Razorbacks on campus. In fact, the programs’ 11 all-time meetings have come in 11 different locations, including Greensboro, Dallas, Anchorage and the Bahamas. At least one of the teams has been ranked in all 11 matchups, and both teams were ranked in six of them.
Arkansas’ visit to the Smith Center will be the first time Razorbacks’ head coach John Calipari has visited Chapel Hill in more than a decade. Calipari’s last visit came in 2013 as head coach of Kentucky, when the Tar Heels defeated the Wildcats 82-77. The 2026-27 season will be Calipari’s third in charge of Arkansas. UNC head coach Michael Malone’s staff features a former Calipari assistant, Chuck Martin, who joined the Tar Heels earlier in the offseason.
The 2026-27 season will be the fourth of the ACC-SEC Challenge, which replaced the ACC-Big Ten Challenge. UNC is 2-1 in the previous three instances of the challenge, defeating Tennessee in 2023, losing to Alabama in 2024 and winning at Kentucky in 2025. Carolina is currently scheduled to face at least three SEC teams in the 2025-26 season: the Tar Heels will host Georgia at the Smith Center on Friday, Nov. 13 and will face Kentucky as part of the CBS Sports Classic on Saturday, Dec. 19 at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
On the women’s side, December’s meeting will be the first between the Tar Heels and Tigers since 2016. LSU has won all three all-time meetings, including a 56-50 victory in the 2008 Elite Eight. This will be the first time the Tigers have ever visited Chapel Hill.
The Tar Heels are 1-2 in the ACC-SEC Challenge, falling to South Carolina at home in 2023, defeating Kentucky at home in 2024 and losing at Texas in 2025. Other confirmed fixtures against SEC teams on the 2026-27 schedule see the Tar Heels face Oklahoma in Paris as part of the “Oui Play” event on Monday, Nov. 2 and South Carolina in the Ally Tipoff in Charlotte, with a date for that game yet to be confirmed.
The 2026-27 season will be the sixth for LSU under the leadership of head coach Kim Mulkey. She has led the Tigers to three seasons of at least 31 wins, four consecutive Sweet 16 appearances and the 2023 national title, LSU’s first in program history. Notably, Mulkey also has a past connection to UNC: she was an assistant coach at her alma mater, Louisiana Tech, when the Tar Heels defeated the Lady Techsters on a buzzer-beater in the 1994 national championship game.
Featured image via Associated Press/L.G. Patterson
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