TCU to Visit Bulldogs for Big 12/SEC Hoops Challenge

The Big 12 and Southeastern Conferences have announced an annual men's basketball challenge that will begin during the 2013-14 season. TCU will travel to Starkville, Miss., on Dec. 5 to face Mississippi State as part of the series.

"The Big 12 is excited to enter into another partnership with the SEC," said Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby. "It will add more quality opponents to our schools' annually strong non-conference schedules and provide an additional avenue to showcase some outstanding intersectional matchups."

The majority of the challenge's games are scheduled for December 2-6, with three taking place outside the four-day series window due to scheduling issues. In future years, the two conferences will work with ESPN to schedule all games across consecutive days. ESPN will provide exclusive coverage of all 10 games on its networks. Additional components of the challenge, including start times and television broadcast information, will be announced at a later date.

The Horned Frogs and Bulldogs will meet for only the third time ever on the hardwood as part of the challenge. The teams slit their two previous matchups, with TCU claiming a 66-65 win in Fort Worth on Dec. 17, 1988 and MSU posting a 64-60 decision in Starkville on March 3, 1990.

The upcoming contest will mark only the fourth for the Frogs against an SEC opponent since 1996 and the first since a Nov. 2011 matchup against Ole Miss in the U.S. Virgin Islands Paradise Jam. Prior to the meeting with the Rebels, TCU had only played a home-and-home series with Vanderbilt in 2004-05 since facing Auburn in Hawaii in Dec. 1996.

This will be the first challenge for Big 12 men's basketball since a four-year series against the Pac-10 from 2007-10. The Big 12 held a 28-20 advantage in games played in that event.

2013 BIG 12 / SEC CHALLENGE
Thursday, Nov. 14
Texas Tech at Alabama

Monday, Dec. 2
Vanderbilt at Texas
Auburn at Iowa State

Thursday, Dec. 5
Mississippi at Kansas State
West Virginia at Missouri
TCU at Mississippi State

Friday, Dec. 6
South Carolina at Oklahoma State
Baylor vs. Kentucky [Cowboys Stadium, Arlington, Texas]

Tuesday, Dec. 10
Kansas at Florida

Saturday, Dec. 21
Oklahoma vs. Texas A&M [Toyota Center, Houston, Texas]