NORFOLK, Va. — The pairings for round one of the MAC-SBC Basketball Challenge—a scheduling alliance between the Mid-American and Sun Belt Conferences – were announced on Thursday and Old Dominion will be heading to the Hoosier state to start the challenge.
ODU will face Ball State on Saturday, Nov. 11 at Worthen Arena in Muncie, Indiana for the first round of the 2023-24 Challenge. This will be the first-ever matchup between the schools on the hardwood.
"The MAC-SBC challenge is a great opportunity for schools to get a pair of quality matchups. We look forward to starting the challenge at a strong Ball State program," said ODU Head Coach Jeff Jones.
Ball State finished 20-12 last season and was fourth in the MAC standings. In last year's final NET rankings, ODU was 154th and Ball State was 156th.
The second MAC-SBC Challenge contest for each team will take place on Saturday, Feb. 10, 2024, with the matchups set based on real-time NET rankings and announced in January. Old Dominion will host a MAC school that day.
Each MAC and Sun Belt team included in the MAC-SBC Challenge, currently scheduled to take place during the 2023-24 and 2024-25 campaigns, is guaranteed one home and one away game each season.
All MAC-SBC challenge games will be carried on an ESPN platform.
MAC-SBC Challenge Men's Basketball Matchups
Wednesday, Nov. 8
Troy at Ohio
Thursday, Nov. 9
James Madison at Kent State
Saturday, Nov. 11
Southern Miss at Akron
Louisiana at Toledo
Old Dominion at Ball State
South Alabama at Buffalo
Arkansas State at Bowling Green
App State at Northern Illinois
Texas State at Miami (OH)
Georgia Southern at Eastern Michigan
Georgia State at Western Michigan
ULM at Central Michigan