The message from the Southeastern Conference to the University of Missouri’s basketball program is clear. If you want to be in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge, be better! Saturday, January 28, 2017 has been chosen as the date for next year’s event, featuring games with all ten schools in the Big 12 meeting 10 of the 14 schools (Mizzou, South Carolina, Mississippi State, and Alabama are not participating) from the Southeastern Conference.
ESPN, ESPN2, and ESPNU will combine to televise every contest of the fourth annual event, with each league to host five games. The Big 12 is 20-10 in the series, and has won the series in each of its first three go-arounds.
The 2017 edition of the SEC/Big 12 challenge will be highlighted by blue bloods Kansas and Kentucky meeting, but unlike January’s matchup in Lawrence, next year’s contest will be played at Rupp Arena in Lexington. Baylor travels to Oxford to play the Ole Miss Rebels for the first time since 1970, while Kansas State will be at Tennessee in a rematch from a 2015 meeting in Manhattan.
The two other games hosted by the SEC will be Iowa State at Vanderbilt and Texas at Georgia.
Games played on Big 12 campuses will be a border battle in Stillwater, with Oklahoma State hosting Arkansas. The Oklahoma Sooners will host the Florida Gators. Auburn travels to TCU, with LSU at Texas Tech, and Texas A&M at West Virginia.
