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North Carolina Basketball Sends Message After Kentucky News

Originally posted on Athlon Sports
By Rowan Fisher-Shotton | Last updated Jun 12, 2025 3:00 PM ET

North Carolina’s big announcement that it will travel to Rupp Arena on December 2, 2025, to face Kentucky in the third ACC-SEC Challenge instantly revived memories of one of college basketball’s great rivalries.

Despite being two of the winningest programs in history, Carolina has not played in Lexington since the 2014-15 season, and the pairing marks the first meeting between Hubert Davis’s Tar Heels and Mark Pope’s Wildcats in the Pope era.

Pope was hired to become the 23rd head coach in Kentucky men's basketball history in April 2024.

Davis took over as head coach at North Carolina following the retirement of legendary Tar Heels coach Roy Williams in 2021.

Shortly after the news broke, UNC basketball posted "Challenge accepted ️" on X.

Challenge accepted ️

: https://t.co/Hcn6jhwRKB pic.twitter.com/IJxJkW2rwR
— Carolina Basketball (@UNC_Basketball) June 12, 2025

Last season, Davis’s squad finished 23-14 overall and 13-7 in ACC play, good for fifth in conference standings and an 11-seed in the NCAA Tournament, knocking out San Diego State in the First Four before losing to Ole Miss in the First Round.

Davis, now entering his fifth season, has already guided the program to a 2022 national championship game, an ACC regular-season title and ACC Coach of the Year award in 2024.

Meanwhile, in Lexington, Mark Pope’s inaugural season at Kentucky yielded a 24-12 record, a 10-8 mark in the SEC, and a Sweet 16 appearance, the program’s first such showing since 2019.

Under Pope, the Wildcats secured signature wins over Duke, Florida and Tennessee (twice), finishing with the No. 7 overall scoring offense in the nation (84.4 PPG).

For both programs, a December meeting at Rupp Arena carries more than bragging rights.

It offers Davis a chance to test his roster against one of college basketball’s blue bloods in its own building, while Mark Pope will measure his program’s rapid ascent in Year 2 against an opponent that has won six national championships and leads the all-time series 25-18.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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