By R.L. Bynum

For the first time in 11 years, North Carolina will play at Kentucky in men’s basketball, with next season’s meeting being part of the ACC/SEC Men’s Challenge.

The Challenge will include a matchup of Final Four teams with reigning national champion Florida playing at Duke. In his first season as N.C. State coach, Will Wade’s team will play at Auburn, which also made the Final Four.

The Challenge will likely be held the first week in December, with the UNC-UK game on Tuesday, Dec. 2, but the time hasn’t been set.

On more scheduling news, Kansas released its nonconference schedule, and it shows that the Jayhawks’ game at UNC will be on Friday, Nov. 7. Just like last season, the Kansas game is four days after UNC’s opener on Monday. Carolina hosts Central Arkansas on Monday, Nov. 3.

This will be the third season of the Challenge and the first one in which UNC will play on the road. Last season, No. 10 Alabama beat No. 20 Carolina 94–79. In 2023, No. 17 UNC beat No. 10 Tennessee 100–92.

The most memorable UNC-UK meeting, of course, was 2017 when Luke Maye’s shot (top photo) beat Kentucky 75–73 in the South Regional final in Memphis on the Tar Heels’ road to the national championship.

In Kentucky’s first season under Coach Mark Pope, the Wildcats went 24–12 and lost to SEC rival Tennessee 87–65 in the Sweet 16.

UNC has lost the last two meetings with the Wildcats, both in the CBS Sports Classic: 87–83 in Atlanta in 2023, when UNC was ranked No. 9 and Kentucky No. 14, and 98–69 in Las Vegas 2021, when the Tar Heels were unranked and the Wildcats were ranked No. 21.

Carolina is 2–5 at Rupp Arena, with both wins coming in a stretch from 2004 to 2008 when the Tar Heels won five consecutive games. An unranked UNC team upset No. 10 Kentucky 83–79 at Rupp on Dec. 3, 2005. The No. 1 Tar Heels rolled to an 86–77 victory on Nov. 18, 2008, against an unranked Wildcats team.

Overall, UNC leads the series 25–18, including 6–8 in all games in Lexington, Ky.

In other matchups, Virginia is at Texas, Clemson at Alabama, Louisville at Arkansas, Oklahoma at Wake Forest, SMU at Vanderbilt, Texas A&M at Pittsburgh, Mississippi State at Georgia Tech, Miami at Ole Miss, LSU at Boston College, Virginia Tech at South Carolina, Tennessee at Syracuse, Missouri at Notre Dame and Georgia at Florida State.

Neither California nor Stanford will play in this season’s men’s Challenge.

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ACC/SEC Men’s Challenge matchups

Tuesday, Dec. 2 
North Carolina at Kentucky 
Florida at Duke 
Georgia at Florida State 
Miami at Ole Miss 
Missouri at Notre Dame 
Texas A&M at Pitt
Tennessee at Syracuse 
Virginia Tech at South Carolina 
Oklahoma at Wake Forest 
Wednesday, Dec. 3 
LSU at Boston College 
Clemson at Alabama 
Mississippi State at Georgia Tech 
Louisville at Arkansas 
N.C. State at Auburn 
SMU at Vanderbilt 
Virginia at Texas 

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No.	Class	Player	Pos.	Hgt	Wgt
8	Freshman	Caleb Wilson (5 star)	4	6–10	215
5	Freshman	Isaiah Denis (4 star)	CG	6–4	180
3	Freshman	Derek Dixon (4 star)	CG	6–5	200
40	Sophomore	Ivan Matlekovic	5	7–0	255
11	Sophomore	Jonathan Powell	G	6–6	190
2	Sophomore	James Brown	5	6–10	240
1	Sophomore	Zayden High	4	6–10	230
44	Junior	Luca Bogavac (BO-guh-VAHTS)	W	6–6	215
4	Junior	Jaydon Young	2	6–4	200
13	RS junior	Henri Veesaar (VEH-sar)	5	7–0	225
0	Junior	Kyan Evans	1	6–2	175
15	Junior	Jarin Stevenson	4	6–10	215
7	Senior	Seth Trimble	2	6–3	200
		Walk-ons
25	Sophomore	John Holbrook	4	6–8	230
32	Junior	Evan Smith	2	6–1	195
6	RS senior	Elijah Davis	2	6–3	205

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Former UNC players who transferred

Player	Class next season	Pos.	Hgt	Wgt	Next school
Elliot Cadeau	Junior	PG	6–1	180	Michigan
Jalen Washington	Senior	C	6–10	235	Vanderbilt
Ian Jackson	Sophomore	G	6–4	190	St. John’s
Cade Tyson	Senior	F	6–7	200	Minnesota
Ven-Allen Lubin	Senior	C	6–8	230	N.C. State

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Date	Month/day	Time	Opponent/event (current ranks)	TV/ record
	October
24	Friday	L, 78–76	vs. No. 10 BYU in SLC	Exhib.
29	Wednesday	W, 95–53	vs. Winston-Salem St.	Exhib.
	November
3	Monday	W, 94–54	vs. Central Arkansas	1–0
7	Friday	W, 87–74	vs. No. 17 Kansas	2–0
11	Tuesday	W, 89–74	vs. Radford	3–0
14	Friday	W, 97–53	vs. N.C. Central	4–0
18	Tuesday	W, 73–61	vs. Navy	5–0
			Fort Myers Tip-Off
25	Tuesday	W, 85–70	vs. St. Bonaventure	6–0
27	Thursday	L, 74–58	vs. No. 9 Michigan State	6–1
	December		ACC/SEC Men’s Challenge
2	Tuesday	W, 67–64	at Kentucky	7–1
			—————————
7	Sunday	W, 81–61	vs. Georgetown	8–1
13	Saturday	W, 80–62	vs. USC Upstate	9–1
16	Tuesday	W, 77–58	vs. East Tennessee State	10–1
			CBS Sports Classic in Atlanta
20	Saturday	3 p.m.	vs. Ohio State	CBS
			—————————
22	Monday	8 p.m.	vs. East Carolina	ACCN
30	Tuesday	7 p.m.	vs. Florida State	ESPN2
	January
3	Saturday	2:15	at SMU	The CW
10	Saturday	6 p.m.	vs. Wake Forest	ACCN
14	Wednesday	9 p.m.	at Stanford	ACCN
17	Saturday	4 p.m.	at California	ACCN
21	Wednesday	7 p.m.	vs. Notre Dame	ESPN2
24	Saturday	2 or 2:30	at No. 23 Virginia	ESPN or ESPNU
31	Saturday	2 p.m.	at Georgia Tech	ACCN
	February
2	Monday	7 p.m.	vs. Syracuse	ESPN
7	Saturday	6:30	vs. No. 3 Duke	ESPN
10	Tuesday	7 p.m.	at Miami	ESPN or ESPN2
14	Saturday	2 p.m.	vs. Pittsburgh	ESPN
17	Tuesday	7 p.m.	at N.C. State	ESPN or ESPN2
21	Saturday	1 p.m.	at Syracuse	ABC
23	Monday	7 p.m.	vs. No. 11 Louisville	ESPN
28	Saturday	6:30 or 8:30	vs. Virginia Tech	ESPN or ESPN2
	March
3	Tuesday	7 p.m.	vs. Clemson	ESPN or ESPN2
7	Saturday	6:30	at No. 3 Duke	ESPN
10–14	Tues.-Sat.	ACC tournament	Spectrum Center, Charlotte

Photo via @UNC_Basketball