Tar Heel fans can probably guess who UNC will face in the ACC/SEC Challenge

The field of teams for the 2026 ACC/SEC Challenge has officially been revealed, as most Tar Heel fans won't be shocked to hear who UNC will match up with in this year's event.

Leading up to the fourth edition of the event, the UNC basketball program has had some success against its SEC foes. North Carolina is 2-1 in the ACC/SEC Challenge, having defeated Tennessee (2023) and Kentucky (2025) while falling to Alabama (2020).

No, there will be no rematches with any of those above teams: this matchup is one that we haven't seen prior in Chapel Hill.

UNC set to host Arkansas in the 2026 ACC/SEC Challenge

Jon Rothstein shared the official matchups for this year's event on social media, as John Calipari and the Arkansas Razorbacks will head to Chapel Hill to take on Michael Malone and the UNC basketball program. The game between the two programs is slated for Tuesday, December 1.

Arkansas has never visited Chapel Hill prior, even though the programs have met 11 times prior. The Tar Heels have held a distinct advantage over the Razorbacks, coming into this meeting with an 8-3 advantage in the all-time series between the two programs.

If you recall, the last meeting between North Carolina and Arkansas took place during the 2023 Battle 4 Atlantis, when RJ Davis posted a 30-point performance to lead the Tar Heels to victory.

Terrence Brown wastes no time soaking in the rich history of UNC basketball

There's plenty of connections with this game as well, given that UNC's new associate head coach, Chuck Martin, was previously working for Calipari at Arkansas. It's also important to mention that the Razorbacks have a player on its roster that UNC was heavily connected to: Miikka Muurinen, so the son of a former Tar Heels women's basketball player will have the opportunity to play in Chapel Hill during his first season of college basketball.

At this point in time, here's what we know about the UNC basketball program's non-conference schedule:

Vs. Western Carolina: Nov. 2
Vs. Wofford: Nov. 6
Vs. Wyoming: Nov. 10
Vs. Georgia: Nov. 13
Vs. Marshall: Nov. 20
vs. West Virginia (Dick Vitale Invitational in Charlotte) Nov. 27
Vs. Arkansas Dec. 1
@ Georgetown: Dec. 12
Vs. Kentucky (CBS Sports Classic at Madison Square Garden): Dec. 19
Vs. The Citadel: Dec. 21
Vs. Butler (Date TBD)

Adding Arkansas to the schedule is a major boost to the strength of schedule for the non-conference opponents. It's important to note that there is still some wiggle room to add more opponents during non-conference play, so it will be interesting to see who the Tar Heels can schedule a matchup with for this season.

When looking at the schedule, this is definitely a game that Tar Heel fans will have circled on their calendars, as this meeting serves as one of the headliners for this year's ACC/SEC Challenge.

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