FSU Basketball Draws High-Profile Matchup for ACC/SEC Challenge
Florida State is making preparations for its second season under head coach Luke Loucks, who was able to find a lot of momentum down the stretch of year one. They carried that into the offseason, where they landed a number of big-time transfers, such as Sebastian Rancik from Colorado and Anthony Robinson II from Missouri.
The non-conference schedule is starting to round into form. It has been announced that they'll open the season in Tampa, playing against Charlie Ward and Florida A&M as part of a double-header. They'll play Houston in Jacksonville as a rematch from last year's game in Houston at the Toyota Center. They'll make a trip back to the Toyota Center to play Texas A&M. Dayton will come to Tallahassee. They play Florida every year.
And now, we know FSU's matchup for the annual ACC-SEC Challenge, as Jon Rothstein announced that the Seminoles will face off against the Tennessee Volunteers on the road. While the date hasn't been announced yet, it's usually the midweek of the first week of December, so this should be either December 1st or 2nd.
NEWS: Matchups for the 2026 ACC/SEC Challenge are set, per sources.
- Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) June 5, 2026
Ark @ UNC
AU @ Clem
Duke @ UF
BC @ UGA
Wake @ LSU
Pitt @ Mizz
SU @ OU
OleMiss @ VT
SC@NCSt
FSU @ Tenn
Texas @ Lville
Bama @ Miami
UK @ UVA
GT @ MissSt
Stanford @ A&M
Vandy @ NDhttps://t.co/CH4tXkiAal
This is a tough matchup for FSU, but not one that they'll be scared of. Florida is probably the best team in the ACC, but Tennessee isn't too far behind, as they landed a lot of the top targets in the transfer portal, getting Juke Harris from Wake Forest, Jaren Haralson from Notre Dame, Dai Dai Ames from Cal, and Terrence Hill Jr. from VCU.
There is some talk that this could be Rick Barnes' final season on Rocky Top, and they've given him his best roster since he's been there.
Florida State has not had any luck in the ACC/SEC Challenge since its inception in 2023. Losing to Georgia at home twice, once in a catastrophic collapse in '23 and then a blowout in '25, and then losing on the road to LSU in 2024. They'll be looking to pick up their first win of the challenge, while Tennessee hasn't been much better at 1-2, suffering a bad loss to Syracuse last year, beating Syracuse in 2024, then losing to UNC in 2023.
No Gimmes For Luke Loucks in Year 2
Florida State hasn't announced its full non-conference schedule yet, but it's looking to be daunting once again. Three SEC games, including against the two top teams in the conference, a rematch against a reloading Houston team, and Dayton should be solid once again.
FSU will fill the other part of non-conference play with Quad 4 games to help their metrics, but this is going to be a difficult path once again for Luke Loucks in his second season.
On the other hand, for any FSU fans who want to make that trip, that should be an awesome atmosphere, and further shows that Loucks isn't scared of playing anyone anywhere.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com/college/fsu as FSU Basketball Draws High-Profile Matchup for ACC/SEC Challenge.
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This story was originally published June 4, 2026 at 9:37 PM.