Rick Barnes says new ACC/SEC Challenge will 'be great for TV, fans, everybody'

Tennessee head Rick Barnes was born and raised in North Carolina, the heart of ACC country. He played college basketball at Lenoir-Rhyne in his hometown of Hickory. He started his coaching career at Davidson. Later he spent four seasons as head coach at Clemson.

So, yes, he knows exactly what it means for the SEC to be part of the new ACC/SEC Challenge next season.

“Obviously growing up in this part of the country,” Barnes said Wednesday night, “and understanding the history of the ACC and the Southeastern Conference, I think it’s great.”

The ACC/SEC Challenge, announced earlier this week, begins next season and replaces both the Big 12-SEC Challenge and the Big Ten-ACC Challenge. 

The Big 12-SEC Challenge is in its 10th year this season — Tennessee hosts Texas in January at Thompson-Boling Arena, before the Longhorns join the SEC alongside Oklahoma — and the Big Ten-ACC Challenge is taking place this week for the 23rd year.

“We are excited women’s and men’s basketball student-athletes will have the opportunity to compete with their colleagues from the ACC as we initiate a new Basketball Challenge experience,” SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey said in a press release on Monday. 

“I appreciate the collaboration of Jim Phillips and the ACC members, along with our broadcast partner ESPN, to make possible the SEC/ACC Basketball Challenge which will provide our fans with exciting basketball early in the 2023-24 season. I also thank the Big 12 for the many great challenge games we experienced together in past years.”

Rick Barnes: ‘I think it’s going to be great for TV, fans, everybody’

The ACC has had a presence on Tennessee basketball schedules since the beginning of the Barnes era.

One of his first scheduling moves with the Vols was signing a four-year deal with Georgia Tech, with each team getting two home games. Later he added a home-and-home with North Carolina, something Tennessee had not done since the 1947 and 1949 seasons, and a home-and-home with Wake Forest, something that had not been done since 1967 and 1970.

Tennessee has also played North Carolina, North Carolina State, Louisville and Florida State in holiday tournaments in November in recent seasons. 

“The fact that (the ACC/SEC Challenge is) regional, I think it’s really good,” Barnes said. “I think it’s going to be good for both leagues. I think it’s going to be great for TV, fans, everybody. I’m excited that we’re at that point with it.”

Tennessee went 4-3 in the Big 12-SEC Challenge under Barnes, with home wins over Kansas State (2017), West Virginia (2019) and Kansas (2021), a road win at Iowa State (2018) and road losses at TCU (2016), Kansas (2020) and Texas (2022).

Up Next: No. 13 Tennessee vs. Alcorn State, Sunday, 6 p.m. ET, SEC Network+

The Vols are 1-2 against North Carolina under Barnes, swept the home-and-home with Wake Forest and went 3-1 in the four-game series with Georgia Tech. They beat North Carolina State in the Battle 4 Atlantis third-place game in 2017, beat Louisville in the 2018 NIT Season Tip-Off, lost to Florida State in the Emerald Coast Classic in November 2019 and beat the Tar Heels in Connecticut last November in the Basketball Hall of Fame Tip-Off Tournament.

“I think it’s great because you go back and look,” Barnes said, “at one time, how many (of the schools in) these two leagues (were together), I think it was the Southern Conference many, many, many years ago.”

Tennessee, Alabama, Clemson, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Kentucky, North Carolina, North Carolina State, Virginia and Virginia Tech were part of the original Southern Conference when it formed in 1921, before Florida, Ole Miss, LSU, South Carolina and Vanderbilt joined a year later.

The Southeastern Conference — Alabama, Alabama Polytechnic Institute, Florida, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Mississippi A&M, University of the South, Tennessee, Tulane and Vanderbilt — formed in 1932, at a meeting at the Farragut Hotel in Knoxville.

In 1952, seven more schools left the Southern Conference to form the ACC — Clemson, Duke, Maryland, North Carolina, North Carolina State, South Carolina and Wake Forest.

“The future ACC/SEC Men’s and Women’s Basketball Challenges will be outstanding events for our student-athletes, member institutions and fans,” ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips said. “The SEC, led by Greg Sankey, and our partners at ESPN have been terrific, and there’s great excitement for the first annual ACC/SEC Challenge next season.”