Mizzou will open the 2025-26 men’s basketball season on November 3 with a game against Howard. (Photo: Cedric Williams)
Terrance Williams
Staff Writer
COLUMBIA, MO — The University of Missouri men’s basketball team will play Notre Dame in the 2025 ACC/SEC Challenge this upcoming season, the conferences announced on Thursday.
Winners of their first two matchups in the ACC/SEC Challenge, Mizzou travels to face Notre Dame on Tuesday, December 2. Game time and TV designation will be announced at a later date.
The Tigers and Fighting Irish have met on the basketball court on nine previous occasions with Mizzou holding a 7-2 lead in the all-time series. The series dates back to the 1980 NCAA Tournament when the Tigers posted an 87-84 overtime win to advance to the Sweet 16. The schools last met in the semifinals of the 2011 CBE Classic in Kansas City with MU tallying an 87-58 victory.
One of six schools between the two conferences with a perfect 2-0 mark in the challenge, the Tigers won at Pittsburgh, 71-64, in 2023 and defeated California, 98-93, at home last season.
The contest is the second announced road game for the Tigers’ non-conference slate as the team opens the season at Howard on November 3.
Mizzou is coming off a campaign where it earned its second NCAA Tournament bid in three seasons, posted three top-five wins for the first time since 1988-89 and finished sixth in a SEC that earned a record 14 bids to the NCAA Tournament.
Mizzou will open the 2025-26 season at Howard on November 3.
It will host VMI on November 9 and Bethune-Cookman on December 14. The only other known date is December 7 against Kansas in Kansas City.
The Tigers will also host Minnesota and play Illinois in St. Louis in the annual Braggin’ Rights contest, though dates for those games have not yet been set.
This will be the third year the ACC/SEC Challenge has been played. It is contracted to continue through at least next season. Missouri is one of three SEC teams to win its two previous matchups in the interconference battle.
Two years ago, the Tigers won 71-64 at Pittsburgh. Last season, Mizzou overcame a 51-35 halftime deficit to beat California 98-93. Arkansas and South Carolina are the other two teams which have gone 2-0 in the challenge.
The Tigers are coming off a 22-11 season in which they finished 10-8 in conference play and earned a No. 6 seed in the NCAA Tournament before losing to Drake in the opening round. Notre Dame finished 15-18 overall last year, including an 8-12 mark in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
The Irish beat Pittsburgh in the ACC Tournament opener, but lost to North Carolina in the second round. The Irish have posted losing records in four of the last five seasons and have made just one NCAA Tournament in the last eight years. They have gone 28-38 in two seasons under Micah Shrewsberry, who was hired from Penn State to replace Mike Brey in South Bend.
With the seven known games, Missouri still has six spots to fill in the non-conference schedule. Some teams have already announced their full non-conference slates, but Mizzou typically does not release its full non-conference schedule until August or September. The SEC schedule has not yet been announced for the 2025-26 season.