Virginia Tech men's & women's basketball teams get brutal start times for SEC/ACC Challenge

For the fourth straight season, the SEC/ACC Challenge will tip off in early December, featuring some big non-conference matchups. This season, the Virginia Tech men's and women's teams will both be home for their annual game inside Cassell Coliseum.

Both matchups are big ones, and both could be very big résumé builders for each program when it comes to the NCAA Tournament next March. The times for each game for the SEC/ACC Challenge have been announced, and both the men and women in Blacksburg got a late tip time at home.

Virginia Tech men and women get SEC/ACC Challenge tip times

The Hokies men will host Ole Miss on Tuesday, Dec. 1, at 9 p.m., and it will be broadcast on the ACC Network, with South Carolina at North Carolina State as the first game at 7. The featured matchup that night will take place at 9:30 on ESPN when Duke visits Florida.

As far as the Hokies and Rebels go, this is a monster matchup for Mike Young and his team and would be a massive win later in the year. The matchup is two years too late, after former Virginia Tech guard Sean Pedulla left in the Transfer Portal a couple of seasons ago for Ole Miss.

As for Megan Duffy and the Hokies women, they get Tennessee at home Thursday, Dec. 3, also at 9 p.m. This is a juicy matchup against Kim Caldwell and the Vols given the history. Caldwell was the coach at Marshall in 2024 when the Thundering Herd were eliminated by the Hokies in the NCAA Tournament at Cassell Coliseum.

This past offseason, two of her former players Lauren Hurst and Alyssa Latham, left via the Transfer Portal and are now at Virginia Tech. Tennessee has been an NCAA Tournament team under Caldwell and will be a signature win for the Hokies if they are to get it after beating Florida at home last December in the Challenge.

Primetime games are great, and Hokies fans will have to stay up late both nights to watch both games. It's not an ideal situation, but getting the games at home is. Something tells me both games will draw well, regardless of the times.

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