On Wednesday, ESPN announced the matchups for the 2024 ACC/SEC Challenge. Virginia Tech men’s basketball will host Vanderbilt on Wednesday, Dec. 4 while the women’s program will travel to Georgia on the same day.
It’s the second year of the event, which replaced the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. Coverage details, including platform designations and commentator information, will be announced at a later date.
Vanderbilt
The Hokies will face the Commodores for the first time since Dec. 22, 1977, a 76-75 victory in Nashville, Tenn. It’ll be the third meeting in Cassell Coliseum, the first since a 99-85 Tech victory on Dec. 29, 1975. It’s 2-0 against Vandy in Blacksburg.
Virginia Tech leads the all-time series 5-2, which dates back to Feb. 1923. Both defeats were in Nashville — in 1962 and 1974, respectively.
Vanderbilt enters its first season under head coach Mark Byington, a Salem, Va., native who spent the last four years at James Madison. He led the Dukes to a 32-4 record and a trip to the second round of the NCAA Tournament in 2023-24. He also served as an assistant coach at Virginia Tech for one season in 2012-13.
Byington takes over for former coach Jerry Stackhouse, who was fired in March after compiling a 70-92 overall record (28-60 SEC). The program was just 9-23 last year — with a 4-14 SEC mark, the second-worst record in the league — after back-to-back NIT appearances, including a 22-win season in 2022-23.
Vandy hasn’t been to the NCAA Tournament since 2016-17, which was the first season of Bryce Drew’s short three-year tenure in charge. He was fired after an 0-18 conference record in 2018-19.
It’ll be Tech’s fourth game against an SEC opponent under Mike Young after clashes with Florida (NCAA Tournament), South Carolina and Auburn — the latter of which was in last year’s ACC/SEC Challenge.
The Hokies will also see some familiar faces in former guards MJ Collins and Tyler Nickel, both of whom transferred to Vanderbilt in the offseason. Collins averaged 7.4 points per game last season while Nickel averaged 8.8 in his first and only year in Blacksburg.
Here’s a look at Tech’s updated 2024-25 schedule, which includes a game in the Fort Myers Tip-Off that was announced on Wednesday:
Georgia
In Year 1 under Megan Duffy, Virginia Tech women’s basketball will travel for the second straight season in the ACC/SEC Challenge, this time for a game at Georgia. It’ll be the fifth all-time meeting, a series the Bulldogs lead 4-0, and the first since a Nov. 2019 clash in Daytona Beach, Fla.
The Hokies and Bulldogs have never met in Athens, Ga., before. The played once in Blacksburg in 1999 and three times at neutral sites — in Harriman, Tenn., Villanova, Pa., and Daytona Beach, Fla.
Georgia finished second-to-last in the 14-team SEC last year with a 3-13 conference record. Overall, it was 12-18 in the second year of Katie Abrahamson-Henderson’s tenure. After successful stops at Missouri State, Albany and UCF, she took over the Bulldogs’ program in 2022 and immediately led them to a 22-12 record and the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
Georgia is a historically great program in women’s basketball. A two-time national runner-up, it’s been to five Final Fours, 11 Elite Eights and 20 Sweet Sixteens. Since the turn of the century, it’s only missed out on the Big Dance on five occasions.
The Bulldogs return their third- and fourth-leading scorers in De’Marui Flournoy (8.9 points per game in 2023-24) and Asia Avinger (7.8 ppg), respectively.
Here’s a breakdown of the Hokies’ updated 2024-25 slate, which features a game against Iowa in the Ally Tipoff in Charlotte, N.C., for the second consecutive year:
ACC/SEC Men’s Challenge Slate:
Tuesday, Dec. 3:
South Carolina at Boston College
Cal at Missouri
Kentucky at Clemson
Florida State at LSU
Georgia Tech at Oklahoma
Ole Miss at Louisville
Arkansas at Miami
Notre Dame at Georgia
Syracuse at Tennessee
Wake Forest at Texas A&M
Wednesday, Dec. 4:
Auburn at Duke
Texas at NC State
Alabama at North Carolina
Pitt at Mississippi State
Virginia at Florida
Vanderbilt at Virginia Tech
ACC/SEC Women’s Challenge Slate:
Wednesday, Dec. 4:
Florida State at Tennessee
Mississippi State at Georgia Tech
Oklahoma at Louisville
Vanderbilt at Miami
Syracuse at Texas A&M
Virginia Tech at Georgia
Thursday, Dec. 5
Boston College at Arkansas
Alabama at Cal
Florida at Clemson
Duke at South Carolina
Kentucky at North Carolina
Ole Miss at NC State
Texas at Notre Dame
SMU at Missouri
Stanford at LSU
Auburn at Virginia
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I got to see the Ladies’ game against UGa in Daytona Beach. I think that was Liz Kitley’s and Cayla King’s first year at VT. Hunter Catoor’s future wife was also on the team that year!
They lost the game, but played well.
No Texas A&M for men or Kentucky for the women. I guess we save that for NCAA’s.
That’s crap that women’s team has to play on the road again
I feel like there are some really good matchups on both sides like Wake vs A&M, Auburn vs Duke, and Alabama vs UNC for the men and Duke vs SC, Texas vs ND, and Stanford vs LSU for the women. However, I feel like both of our matchups aren’t great (in my opinion).
The men & women play their SEC matchup on the same day, hopefully, at different times.
I feel like I’m back in high school phys ed. Choose teams, play a game, then make new teams from among the same players and tip off the next game.