Texas A&M will face top ACC school in 2023 tourney

With Texas A&M basketball shaping up to be one of the ascendant teams next season, they’ve just added a top-tier interconference opponent to their schedule.

CBS Sports insider Jon Rothstein reported Wednesday morning that Virginia would host Texas A&M in next season’s inaugural ACC/SEC Men’s Basketball Challenge. The Atlantic Coast Conference, Southeastern Conference, and ESPN announced back in November 2022 the formation of the challenge for both men’s and women’s basketball, in what will be the latest chapter of pitting the best teams across the country in an interconference bout.

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The creation of the ACC/SEC Challenge marks the end of the ACC/Big Ten Challenge, which ESPN established back in 1999 as a first-of-its-kind event. Adapting the competition to include the SEC is a sound move given the conference boasted some of the best teams in the country last season.

The SEC sent eight teams to the NCAA Tournament last year, and arguably the hottest team among them heading into the postseason was Texas A&M. The Aggies finished the year 25-10 (15-3 SEC) while reaching back-to-back conference title games.

The Maroon and White would go on to earn the No. 7 seed as they reached March Madness for the first time since 2018, eventually falling to Penn State in the first round.

Source: Virginia will host Texas A&M in next season’s ACC/SEC Challenge.

— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) June 28, 2023

Shortly thereafter, ESPN announced the full matchups, dates, and times for both the men’s and women’s tournaments. Aggie Hoops’ Twitter account later shared the news of facing the Cavaliers in November:

Cavaliers are on the schedule ?

The Inaugural ACC/SEC Challenge
? Nov. 29th @ Virginia 6:15 CT

? https://t.co/rZmtDkLp1Q pic.twitter.com/zofriIdwSK

— Texas A&M Basketball (@aggiembk) June 28, 2023

Virginia finished 25-8 last season (15-5, 1st in the ACC) before going on to earn the No. 4 seed in the South Region. Unfortunately, their trip to the big dance was short-lived after suffering a buzzer-beater loss to No. 13 Furhman in the opening round.

It’s safe to say that after both programs’ NCAA Tournament trips ended prematurely in the first round, Texas A&M and Virginia should be equally motivated to put on a top-tier performance for this must-see matchup.

The Aggies have faced the Cavaliers just once prior in school history, with A&M beating Virginia 60-59 back in 1962. The next chapter between these two programs will be set for November 29 on ESPN, with tip-off scheduled for 6:30 p.m. CT.

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