Aggies to Face Iowa State in Big 12-SEC Challenge
COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The schedule for the upcoming 2016 Big 12/SEC Challenge Presented by Sonic was announced Thursday and features Texas A&M hosting Iowa State at Reed Arena on Jan. 30, 2016.
All 10 of the Big 12's teams and 10 of the SEC's 14 member institutions will participate in this year's event. Each of the 10 SEC teams participating in the 2016 Challenge will also play in the 2017 event.
Fourteen participating teams earned postseason berths in 2015 and nine of the 10 games will feature at least one team that participated in the 2015 NCAA Tournament.
The first two years of the challenge were played over several days in November and December but the 2016 event will be consolidated to one single day in January. A bye in the league schedule for participating teams was created to accommodate the new format. The four SEC teams not participating will play each other in conference games the same day.
The Aggies' only previous appearance in the Big 12-SEC Challenge came during 2013-14 campaign, facing Oklahoma at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas.
Eight of the 10 games during the 2016 Challenge will be televised on ESPN or ESPN2 and two games will air on ESPNU. All 10 games will also be available via WatchESPN. ESPN's College GameDay Covered by State Farm – the Saturday morning and evening roadshow that discusses the top storylines of the college basketball season – will originate from one of the Challenge games, to be announced at a later date.
“The ability to showcase SEC basketball in this kind of inter-conference competition makes this a unique and exciting event for our coaches, student-athletes and fans,” SEC Commissioner Mike Slive said.
The Aggies and Cyclones, former Big 12 Conference mates from 1997-2012, have faced off 19 times on the hardwood with A&M owning a slim 10-9 edge in the all-time series.
The addition of Iowa State gives Texas A&M three Big 12 opponents on its upcoming 2015-16 home schedule, joining Baylor and Kansas State who venture to Reed Arena during the fall semester.
2016 Big 12/SEC Challenge Presented by Sonic (Jan. 30, 2016)
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Kentucky at Kansas
Vanderbilt at Texas
Georgia at Baylor
Tennessee at TCU
Ole Miss at Kansas State
Iowa State at Texas A&M
Oklahoma at LSU
West Virginia at Florida
Oklahoma State at Auburn
Texas Tech at Arkansas
