North Carolina’s December date with Arkansas will get a prime-time stage.
ESPN announced Monday that the Tar Heels and Razorbacks will tip at 7:30 p.m. ET on Tuesday, Dec. 1, with the game airing on ESPN as the opening matchup of the ACC/SEC Challenge doubleheader.
Duke’s trip to Florida follows at 9:30 p.m. ET.
The game had already been set for the fourth annual Challenge when it was announced in June, but the network assignment gives it a bigger spotlight. It also stands out as one of the biggest non-conference games in Michael Malone’s first season in Chapel Hill.
Arkansas comes in ranked No. 10 in ESPN’s Way-Too-Early Top 25, and the matchup is one of 12 Challenge games involving teams included in those rankings. The two-day event also features Duke at Florida, Kentucky at Virginia and Alabama at Miami.
UNC has handled this event well so far, even as the ACC has struggled overall. The Tar Heels are 2-1 in the first three editions.
They opened the series with a 100-92 home win over No. 10 Tennessee in 2023, then took a 94-79 loss to Alabama in the Smith Center a year later.
Last season, Carolina answered with its best Challenge result yet, going to Rupp Arena and beating Kentucky 67-64.
That puts the Tar Heels in position to move to 3-1 when Arkansas visits.
The ACC, though, is trying to claw back ground in the bigger picture. The first Challenge ended in a 7-7 tie in 2023, but the SEC rolled in 2024 with a 14-2 edge and won again in 2025, 9-7. Across the three years, the SEC owns a 30-16 lead in individual men’s games, along with two Challenge wins and one tie.
There’s also plenty of history between UNC and Arkansas. The Tar Heels lead the all-time series 8-3 and have won the last five meetings.
Their most recent matchup came in November 2023 at the Battle 4 Atlantis, when North Carolina beat Arkansas 87-72. Six of the 11 all-time meetings have come in the NCAA Tournament.
Still, this will be Arkansas’ first trip to Chapel Hill.
The Razorbacks and Tar Heels have played only twice before in North Carolina, a 1979 game in Greensboro and an NCAA Tournament meeting in Raleigh in 2008. Carolina won both.
Now the matchup gets a national window, a ranked opponent and a chance for UNC to keep building its own track record in an event that has mostly gone the SEC’s way.
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