2025 ACC/SEC Women's Challenge schedule: Top basketball games - ESPN

The ACC had a tough first month of the 2025-26 women's college basketball season.

Duke sits below .500. NC State lost to Rhode Island. Stanford just lost to FGCU. Michigan blitzed Notre Dame by 39 points. Virginia lost to UMBC. Virginia Tech got upset by James Madison.

The ACC's list of disappointing results is much longer than a typical November for what is historically the best or second-best conference in the country.

The SEC, on the other hand, has lived up to its reputation as one of the best leagues in the nation. Six SEC teams are still unbeaten. Texas and South Carolina just played each other in the Players Era championship game in Las Vegas — the game of the year so far — with the Longhorns prevailing on a Rori Harmon jumper with 0.7 seconds left. Both remain on target to be No. 1 seeds. LSU just set a record with eight straight 100-point games to start the season.

While so many ACC teams have underachieved to this point, Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky and Mississippi State have exceeded expectations in the SEC.

But the ACC has a chance to reverse that narrative with the arrival of this week's ACC/SEC Challenge. With 16 games over Wednesday and Thursday, the two conferences square off for the third year. The SEC won 10 of the 16 games last season. What's at stake in this year's event? Which teams have the best opportunities for résumé-building wins? Here's a look at the five best matchups of this year's event and what we hope to learn from them.

7 p.m. ET Wednesday, ESPN2

Is NC State going to turn it around? The Wolfpack's loss to the Rams on Nov. 23 was their first at home against an unranked opponent in program history. NC State also fell at home to TCU (Nov. 16) and lost on a neutral floor to USC (Nov. 9). Yes,