ESPN announced matchups for the 2026-27 SEC/ACC Challenge on Friday morning, and both Virginia Tech teams are playing games in Cassell Coliseum.
Hokies men's basketball will host Ole Miss on Tuesday, Dec. 1, while Tech women's basketball will face Tennessee on Thursday, Dec. 3.
For Mike Young & Co., it'll mark the sixth all-time meeting with the Rebels and the first in nine years. Tech and Ole Miss had a home-and-home series in 2016-17, which the Hokies swept — 80-75 in Blacksburg (Dec. 2016), 83-80 (OT) in Oxford (Dec. 2017) — under Buzz Williams.
The Rebels are coming off a 15-20 (4-14 SEC) season under Chris Beard, who is in his third season (59-44, .573). Former Tech point guard Sean Pedulla transferred to Ole Miss and was pivotal in the program's Sweet Sixteen run in 2025.
There's a familiarity between Young and Beard, as the two met in the first round of the 2022 NCAA Tournament when the latter guided Texas to an 81-73 win in Milwaukee (in his lone season with the Longhorns).
As for Megan Duffy's squad, it'll be the 13th all-time clash with the Lady Vols, who reached the NCAA Tournament with a 16-14 (8-8) record last year before losing to NC State.
Tech and Tennessee last met in the Sweet Sixteen in Seattle during the 2023 NCAA Tournament, which the Hokies won 73-64 to punch their ticket to the Elite Eight vs. Ohio State — and eventually the Final Four in Dallas.
It's the third trip to Blacksburg in the last decade for the Lady Vols, who visited Cassell Coliseum in 2015 and 2021 and split with the Hokies.
Tech's 2026-27 roster features two Tennessee transfers in Alyssa Latham and Lauren Hurst, who joined the program in the offseason after a mass exodus in Knoxville.
Head coach Kim Caldwell (40-24, .625) is also familiar with Blacksburg. In her lone season as the head coach at Marshall, the Hokies eliminated the Thundering Herd from the 2024 NCAA Tournament with a 92-49 first-round victory.
Virginia Tech men's basketball knows its ACC opponents for the upcoming season. It also has eight non-conference games set, six of which are at home: Coppin State, Old Dominion, Maryland Eastern Shore, Radford, VMI and Richmond. It's participating in the Charleston Classic, too.
Hokies women's basketball has five home non-conference games on the docket so far: North Carolina Central, Delaware, James Madison, La Salle and Appalachian State.
For more information on Tech's future basketball schedules, click here.
Full 2026 SEC/ACC Men's Challenge Slate
Tuesday, Dec. 1:
• Auburn at Clemson
• Duke at Florida
• Texas at Louisville
• Florida State at Tennessee
• Wake Forest at LSU
• Pitt at Missouri
• South Carolina at NC 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
Full 2026 SEC/ACC Women's Challenge Slate
Wednesday, Dec. 2:
• LSU at North Carolina
• Louisville at Texas
• Miami at Florida
• Georgia at SMU
• NC State at Ole Miss
• Stanford at Auburn
Thursday, Dec. 3:
• South Carolina at Duke
• Notre Dame at Vanderbilt
• Tennessee at Virginia Tech
• Clemson at Kentucky
• Oklahoma at Syracuse
• Wake Forest at Arkansas
• Missouri at Florida State
• Texas A&M at Cal
• Georgia Tech at Alabama
• Virginia at Mississippi State