Louisville basketball to host Texas in 2026 ACC/SEC Challenge
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It'll be Louisville basketball vs. Texas in the 2026 installment of the ACC/SEC Challenge.
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Pat Kelsey's Cardinals and Sean Miller's Longhorns will meet Dec. 1 at the KFC Yum! Center, according to an announcement Thursday morning from ESPN and the conferences.
UofL is 0-2 in the ACC/SEC Challenge since debuting in the annual showdown between the leagues two years ago. It fell to Ole Miss at home, 86-63, in 2024 and lost at Arkansas, 89-80, in 2025.
Louisville is 4-2 all-time against Texas. The programs last met Nov. 19, 2023, at Madison Square Garden, when a buzzer-beater from Max Abmas ended the Cards' upset bid under former coach Kenny Payne. The Cards haven't hosted the Longhorns in the 502 since a 101-78 victory on Dec. 9, 1995, at Freedom Hall.
Texas finished Year 1 under Miller with a 21-15 record after making a run from the First Four to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament as a No. 11 seed. Since then, the Longhorns have put together a 10-man recruiting class that ranks sixth on 247Sports' national leaderboard — one spot behind UofL.
They needed the reinforcements, because only one of their three returners saw the court in 2025-26: Matas Vokietaitis, a 7-foot junior center who averaged 15.6 points and 7.1 rebounds per game.
Among Miller's notable transfer additions: Isaiah Johnson, who averaged 16.9 points per game as a freshman at Colorado; David Punch, who averaged 14.1 as a sophomore at TCU; and Mikey Lewis, who averaged 13.9 as a sophomore at Saint Mary's. UT also has two incoming freshman who rank in the top 50 of the 247Sports Composite, Austin Goosby and Bo Ogden.
Here's every matchup in this year's ACC/SEC Challenge:
Note: Tipoff times and specific TV assignments have not yet been determined. Games will air on ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ACC Network and SEC Network.
Tuesday, Dec. 1
- Auburn at Clemson
- Duke at Florida
- Texas at Louisville
- Florida State at Tennessee
- Wake Forest at LSU
- Pittsburgh at Missouri
- South Carolina at N.C. State
- Arkansas at North Carolina
- Syracuse at Oklahoma
- Ole Miss at Virginia Tech
- Boston College at Georgia
Wednesday, Dec. 2
- Georgia Tech at Mississippi State
- Vanderbilt at Notre Dame
- Alabama at Miami
- Stanford at Texas A&M
- Kentucky at Virginia
UofL's nonconference schedule for Year 3 under Kelsey features four opponents from its 2025-26 slate: Baylor, Cincinnati, Kentucky and Memphis.
The games against the Bears and the Bearcats will be held at neutral sites — although that's a bit of a stretch for the UC matchup, considering it'll be played at Freedom Hall, Louisville's home gym from 1956-2010. A venue for the Baylor game had not been announced at the time of publication.
The games against UK and Memphis will be true road tests. The former will be Dec. 12 at Rupp Arena.
The Cards are also debuting in the Players Era, a 16-team, Thanksgiving week tournament at Michelob ULTRA Arena in Las Vegas. UofL drew Texas Tech as its Round 1 opponent Nov. 24 and will face either Oregon or St. John's (and former coach Rick Pitino) in Round 2 on Nov. 26. Kelsey's team will play at least one more game, on Nov. 27, as part of the Players Era. If it goes 3-0, it will compete for a tournament championship Nov. 28.
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Reach Louisville men's basketball reporter Brooks Holton at [email protected] and follow him on X at @brooksHolton.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Louisville basketball schedule, UofL vs. Texas in ACC/SEC Challenge