Tennessee basketball will meet Syracuse in the ACC-SEC Challenge

Tennessee basketball has identified its opponent for the 2024 ACC-SEC Challenge. The Vols will face Syracuse in this year’s battle of the two strong conferences.On Wednesday, Jon Rothstein’s College Hoops Today reported on each matchup for this year’s Challenge.

The ACC-SEC Challenge will return in 2024 for a second season. The SEC formerly had an arrangement with the Big 12, but it expired after the 2022-23 basketball season. The ACC historically competed in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge, which ended after 2022-23.

The Orange will travel to Knoxville to face Tennessee on Tuesday, December 3. Last season, Tennessee faced North Carolina in the first year of the SEC’s new challenge to another big conference.

Tennessee has recent experience versus Syracuse. The two teams met in the first round of last year’s Maui Invitational, where the Vols defeated the Orange 73-56. Almost every major player who helped Tennessee win that game left via the transfer portal or graduation.

The Volunteers now have six non-conference games scheduled for the next season. The first non-conference game will be played at Louisville on November 9. The Vols will then compete in the Baha Mar Tournament, which includes Virginia, St. John’s, and Baylor.

The Vols will next host Syracuse in the ACC-SEC Challenge on December 3, travel to New York City to face Miami on December 10, and finally play at Illinois on December 14th.

Tennessee will look very different on the floor this year. The Vols return a few significant players, including Zakai Zeigler, Jahmai Mashack, and J.P. Estrella, as well as a few minor role players. The remainder of the roster has been filled using the transfer portal.

Rick Barnes and the Vols have used the portal to bring in some of the country’s most efficient scorers and rebuild their squad in preparation for another SEC Championship run.

Other prominent games in this year’s ACC-SEC Challenge include Arkansas at Miami, Kentucky at Clemson, Wake Forest at Texas A&M, Alabama at North Carolina, Auburn at Duke, and Texas at NC State.