The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Men’s Basketball to play at Louisville in 2026 SEC/ACC Challenge
06.05.2026 | Men's Basketball
The Longhorns will face the Cardinals in KFC Yum! Center on Tuesday, Dec. 1.
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — The Southeastern and Atlantic Coast Conferences in conjunction with ESPN announced the matchups and dates for the 2026 SEC/ACC Challenge on Friday morning. Texas will play at Louisville on Tuesday, Dec. 1 in the KFC Yum! Center.
Game times and television networks will be announced when available. Both the men's and women's SEC/ACC Basketball Challenges will be televised across ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ACC Network and SEC Network. Due to television considerations, 11 of the 16 games in this season's Challenge will be played on Tuesday, Dec. 1, while the other five games will be played on Wednesday, Dec. 2.
This will mark the seventh meeting between Texas and Louisville in men's basketball and first since the 2023-24 season. The Cardinals own a 4-2 advantage in the all-time series, which dates back to a 76-60 Louisville victory on Dec. 15, 1961 in Louisville in the opening round of the Bluegrass Tournament. Texas recorded its first win in the series with a 74-70 victory over then-No. 2 Louisville in the seventh-place game of the Great Alaska Shootout on Nov. 30, 1986 in Anchorage, Alaska.
The Cardinals posted a 101-78 home win on Dec. 9, 1995, before Louisville added an 85-78 overtime victory on Jan. 19, 1997 in Austin. Later that same season, the Cardinals recorded a 78-63 win in the 1997 NCAA Sweet 16 (March 21, 1997) in Syracuse, N.Y. In the most recent matchup between the two schools (Nov. 19, 2023), Texas posted an 81-80 victory in the semifinals of the Saatva Empire Classic in Madison Square Garden (New York, N.Y.), as Max Abmas hit a jumper from the right jumper with 0.4 seconds remaining to give the Longhorns the win.
This marks the fourth season of the SEC/ACC Challenge and the third year that the Longhorns have participated in the Challenge. Texas registered a 63-59 win at NC State on Dec. 4, 2024, before Virginia earned an 88-69 victory in Austin on Dec. 3, 2025. The men's Challenge games are scheduled to take place on the first Tuesday and Wednesday after Thanksgiving through at least the 2027-28 season.
2026 SEC/ACC Challenge Men's Basketball Schedule
|
Date |
Matchup |
|
Tuesday, December 1 |
Arkansas at North Carolina |
|
Tuesday, December 1 |
Auburn at Clemson |
|
Tuesday, December 1 |
Duke at Florida |
|
Tuesday, December 1 |
Boston College at Georgia |
|
Tuesday, December 1 |
Wake Forest at LSU |
|
Tuesday, December 1 |
Pittsburgh at Missouri |
|
Tuesday, December 1 |
Syracuse at Oklahoma |
|
Tuesday, December 1 |
Ole Miss at Virginia Tech |
|
Tuesday, December 1 |
South Carolina at NC State |
|
Tuesday, December 1 |
Florida State at Tennessee |
|
Tuesday, December 1 |
TEXAS at Louisville |
|
Wednesday, December 2 |
Alabama at Miami (Fla.) |
|
Wednesday, December 2 |
Kentucky at Virginia |
|
Wednesday, December 2 |
Georgia Tech at Mississippi State |
|
Wednesday, December 2 |
Stanford at Texas A&M |
|
Wednesday, December 2 |
Vanderbilt at Notre Dame |
