IRVING, Texas – Baylor men’s basketball will play at Ole Miss in the fourth-annual SEC/Big 12 Challenge Presented By Sonic. All games in the Challenge will be played on one day in the middle of conference play for the second consecutive year – Saturday, Jan. 28.
All 10 matchups for the event were announced by the league offices Tuesday, but tipoff times and television networks will be assigned at a later date. Each game will be televised on ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPNU, and ESPN’s College GameDay Covered by State Farm will originate from one of the 10 sites to be determined.
Baylor will face Mississippi for the first time since the teams met in the only previous meeting on Dec. 29, 1970, as part of the Palmetto Classic in Charleston, S.C. Baylor won that game 132-113, making it the highest-scoring game in program history and the second-most points scored in a game by the Bears.
Additional matchups in the Challenge include Iowa State at Vanderbilt, Kentucky at Kansas, Kansas State at Tennessee, Florida at Oklahoma, Arkansas at Oklahoma State, Auburn at TCU, Texas at Georgia, LSU at Texas Tech and Texas A&M at West Virginia.
The Big 12 has won each of the first three Challenges against the SEC, going a combined 20-10. The league is a combined 48-30 in the two conference challenge series it has played (vs. Pac-10, SEC) dating back to 2007.
Baylor is 3-0 in the Challenge, with a neutral-site win vs. Kentucky in the inaugural event, a win at Vanderbilt during the 2014-15 season and a win over Georgia last year. Combined with a 3-1 record in the Big 12/Pac-10 Hardwood Series, Baylor’s 6-1 record in conference challenges is the Big 12’s best.
Baylor returns six of its top nine scorers from last season’s 22-12 team, which reached the NCAA Tournament for a school-record third consecutive season. BU welcomes back a trio of fourth-year players with starting experience in senior Ishmail Wainright and redshirt juniors Al Freeman and Johnathan Motley. The Bears also return junior Terry Maston and sophomores King McClure and Jake Lindsey.
Additionally, a trio of players who sat out last season will be eligible this year, as Manu Lecomte, Jo Acuil and Wendell Mitchell are expected to make their Baylor debuts. The Bears also welcome three newcomers in Tyson Jolly, Nuni Omot and Mark Vital.
2017 SEC/BIG 12 CHALLENGE PRESENTED BY SONIC (JAN. 28)
Baylor at Mississippi
Iowa State at Vanderbilt
Kansas at Kentucky
Kansas State at Tennessee
Florida at Oklahoma
Arkansas at Oklahoma State
Auburn at TCU
Texas at Georgia
LSU at Texas Tech
Texas A&M at West Virginia
