BATON ROUGE – The men’s SEC/ACC Basketball Challenge returns to the Pete Maravich Assembly Center on Tuesday, Dec. 1, as LSU hosts Wake Forest in one of 16 matchups between the teams in the two conferences.
LSU was on the road last year so was in line for a home game for the 2026 Challenge in Will Wade’s first season back as head coach at LSU.
The Tigers and Wake Forest are somewhat familiar with each other, having played three times in this decade. LSU leads the overall series, 4-2, with LSU on a three-game win streak, one of those under Coach Wade.
LSU defeated Wake Forest in the finals of the 2021 Emerald Coast Classic in Niceville, Florida, 75-61. One year later, the Tigers rallied from a 20-point deficit with Justice Hill getting a game-winning layup with two seconds remaining in a 72-70 victory in the Holiday Hoopsgiving event in Atlanta.
The last meeting came in 2023 in the fifth-place game of the Charleston Classic in Charleston, South Carolina, with LSU winning, 86-80, in overtime.
LSU is 2-1 in the SEC/ACC Challenge with wins in both 2024 and 2025. After tying at 7-7 in 2023 (LSU lost at Syracuse), the Tigers were part of a 14-2 SEC run in 20024 with a win over Florida State and last year, LSU provided one of the swing wins for the league in a 9-7 SEC decision with its 78-69 decision in overtime at Boston College.
Wake Forest is 1-2 in its three SEC/ACC Challenge contests. The Demon Deacons were 18-17 a season ago.
In its three conference challenge histories, beginning in 2007, against the ACC, Big 12 and Big East, LSU is a combined 6-6.
Tip time and television network will be announced in the near future.
