After a successful Big 12/SEC Challenge which saw the Big 12 win six of the 10 matchups, ESPN announced Thursday that all 10 games of next season’s event will be held on Saturday, Jan. 30, 2016.
“This will be a high profile non-conference series on our networks in the middle of the league season,” Nick Dawson, ESPN's senior director of programming and acquisitions, said in a press release. “It will be a special showcase for the challenge and be a great day of college basketball action on the ESPN networks.”
In this season's Big 12/SEC Challenge, held from Dec. 3-6, seven of the teams were ranked in the AP Poll at the time of the event including matchups between No. 1 Kentucky and No. 6 Texas (won by Kentucky 63-51) and No. 18 Arkansas at No. 20 Iowa State (won by Iowa State 95-77).
“We are excited to move this event to January to provide the Big 12 a unique showcase and help ESPN give the Big 12/SEC Challenge the attention it deserves,” Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby said.
ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU will combine to televise all 10 games of the challenge, which features every Big 12 team against 10 SEC opponents with five home games for each conference.
Next season’s matchups have yet to be determined.