TCU will face Florida Gators in 2019 Big 12/SEC Challenge

The Big 12/SEC Challenge for the 2018-19 basketball season has just been announced, and TCU will host the Florida Gators on January 26th.

The Frogs are 3-2 all-time in the Challenge, but dropped their game to Vanderbilt this season, rather unexpectedly.

Florida finished with a 21-13 overall record last season, including an 11-7 record in the surprisingly deep SEC. They destroyed Baylor, 81-60, in their matchup as a part of last season’s Challenge.

This is a fantastic addition to the Frogs’ schedule, and the fact that TCU is hosting makes it even better.

Read the full press release from TCU Athletics below:

TCU will host Florida on Saturday, Jan. 26 in the sixth annual SEC/Big 12 Challenge.

The Horned Frogs, which own a 3-2 record in the Challenge, will play the Gators for the third time in its history. Florida won the previous two meetings, 77-75 on March 17, 1986 in Gainesville, Fla., and 73-61 on Dec. 21, 1974 in Fort Worth. The meeting in 1986 was the first round of the NIT.

TCU went 21-12 overall last season and a program-best 9-9 in the Big 12 Conference. The Frogs made postseason play for the second-straight season and earned an NCAA Tournament bid for the first time in 20 seasons. They return five regulars in the starting lineup from a team that led the Big 12 in scoring average and shooting percentage in conference games.

Florida went 21-13 overall last season including an 11-7 record in the Southeastern Conference. The Gators seventh NCAA Tournament appearance in the past nine seasons ended with a second round loss to Texas Tech in Dallas.

This will mark the fourth consecutive year for all matchups to be played in one day. ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU will combine to televise the contests with ESPN’s College GameDay originating from one of the sites. Game time and network for TCU’s game will be announced at a later date.

Big 12 teams are 29-21 (.580) in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge. In the first four years of the event, the Challenge trophy remained in the Big 12 office. The Big 12 won it the first three seasons and the leagues split the 10 games in 2017 (in case of a tie, the trophy stays with the conference that won it the previous season). The SEC won the fifth season of the Challenge.

Previously announced non-conference games for the 2018-19 season include a Dec. 7 matchup with USC in the Basketball Hall of Fame Classic at STAPLES Center and a trip to Hawaii for three games in the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic Dec. 22, 23 and 25 at the Stan Sheriff Center in Honolulu. Teams in the 10^th annual event are Bucknell, Charlotte, Colorado, Hawai’i, Indiana State, Rhode Island and UNLV.

2009 SEC/Big 12 Challenge – Saturday, Jan. 26

Alabama at Baylor

Iowa State at Ole Miss

Kansas at Kentucky

Kansas State at Texas A&M

Vanderbilt at Oklahoma

South Carolina at Oklahoma State

Florida at TCU

Texas at Georgia

Arkansas at Texas Tech

West Virginia at Tennessee