One of the most exciting times of the basketball season is when the ACC and SEC face off, and this year that will come on Wednesday, December 2, as the Cardinal men's team will travel to face Texas A&M. 

The program is 1-0 all-time against Texas A&M, winning the lone matchup on December 30, 1949, at the Cow Palace in Daly City by the score of 55-49. This matchup was not too long after Stanford's lone National Championship in 1941-42. The Cardinal were then a member of the Pacific Coast Conference, which is the exact opposite of where they find themselves today. 

Everett Dean was the head coach of the Cardinal from 1938–51, spanning both of those time periods. In that game against A&M, future No. 8 overall pick in the 1950 NBA Draft, George Yardley III, and 1952 third rounder Jim Walsh represented The Farm. 

This past season the Stanford men went 20-13, but did not get to participate in the ACC/SEC challenge. In fact, the last time that they faced an SEC team was back in 2023-24 when they fell in double overtime to Arkansas at the Imperial Arena. Jerod Haase was still the coach at that point. 

A&M has been waiting 77 years to even the score against the Cardinal, and they may have a good chance to do so. The program made the NCAA Tournament, defeating St. Mary's in the first round before getting blown out by Houston in the second. They finished the season with a 22-12 record. 

The women's program will be having its matchup on the same day, December 2, but will be traveling to Auburn, Alabama to take on the Tigers in the SEC/ACC Women's Basketball Challenge. 

This will be the program's first trip to Auburn, though they are 3-0 against the Tigers all-time. The first meeting came in 1990 and ended with Stanford winning its first NCAA championship in program history, taking down the Tigers 88-81. 

That team was headed up by future WNBA stars Katy Steding, Jennifer Azzi, Val Whiting-Raymond and Sonja Henning. 

The other two wins came in the 1995-96 season, with the Cardinal beating Auburn 64-44 in the Fry's Cardinal Classic at Maples, and then again in the Sweet Sixteen, 71-57. The Cardinal would fall in the following round to Georgia. 

This past season the Tigers went 15-17 and just 3-13 in-conference. They also lost their ACC/SEC challenge against Syracuse last season in overtime. Stanford lost its rivalry matchup to Tennessee 65-62 at home.  

Coverage details, including game time and platform designation, will be announced at a later date.

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