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July 1, 2025MBB/WBB: Initial Basketball Matchups for 2025-26 MAC-SBC Challenge Announced
July 1, 2025
MBB Contact: Jacob Plecker (pl*******@******te.edu)
WBB Contact: Katherine Jamtgaard (ja*********@******te.edu)
Sun Belt Release: https://sunbeltsports.org/news/2025/7/1/mens-basketball-matchups-announced-for-first-round-of-2025-26-mac-sbc-challenge.aspx
NEW ORLEANS – The initial matchups for the third year of the MAC-SBC Challenge — a scheduling alliance in the sports of men’s and women’s basketball — were announced on Tuesday. Challenge games on Nov. 3 will open the regular season for both the App State men’s and women’s basketball teams.
The women will face Western Michigan in Boone, while the men will play at Central Michigan. Each MAC-SBC Challenge contest will be carried on an ESPN platform.
The second matchups in the MAC-SBC Challenge will take place in February, with the matchups to be announced in January and set based on real-time NET rankings. The Sun Belt men and MAC women will host the February games.
Kicking off her second season as head coach of App State Women’s Basketball, Alaura Sharp and her squad will welcome Western Michigan to the Holmes Center. It will be the second meeting in the last three seasons between the Mountaineers and Broncos, as App State won 78-68 in Kalamazoo, Mich., during the 2023-24 season in the first head-to-head meeting in series history.
When App State Men’s Basketball treks to Mount Pleasant, Mich., it will mark the first contest between the Mountaineers and Chippewas since they met for the first time on Dec. 21, 1989 at the Greater Youngstown Holiday Classic in Youngstown, Ohio. App State’s trip to Michigan will be the Mountaineers’ second visit to the state of Michigan in the Dustin Kerns era.
Since the MAC-SBC Challenge’s inception in the 2023-24 season, the App State men’s team is 2-2, claiming wins over Toledo in 2024 and Ohio in 2025. The Mountaineers are 1-1 in road games as part of the MAC-SBC Challenge.
The App State women are also 2-2 in MAC-SBC Challenge contests, going undefeated in the 2023-24 season with wins over Ohio and Western Michigan before falling to Miami (Ohio) and Northern Illinois in 2024-25. The Mountaineers are 1-1 in MAC-SBC Challenge home games.
The Sun Belt men and MAC men tied last season’s challenge, with each conference winning 12 games apiece. Through the first two years of the challenge, the Sun Belt men hold a 27-21 edge. The MAC women claimed the Challenge title last season, winning 15-10. The Sun Belt women claimed the 2023-24 title by going 14-10.
MAC-SBC Challenge Men’s Basketball Matchups – Nov. 3
App State at Central Michigan
Arkansas State at Ohio
Coastal Carolina at Western Michigan
Georgia State at Eastern Michigan
James Madison at Akron
Louisiana at Ball State
ULM at Northern Illinois
Marshall at UMass
Old Dominion at Miami (Ohio)
Southern Miss at Buffalo
South Alabama at Toledo
Texas State at Bowling Green
Troy at Kent State
MAC-SBC Challenge Women’s Basketball Matchups – Nov. 3
Western Michigan at App State
Ball State at Arkansas State
Miami (Ohio) at Coastal Carolina
Central Michigan at Georgia Southern
Kent State at James Madison
Bowling Green at Louisiana
Eastern Michigan at ULM
Buffalo at Marshall
UMass at Old Dominion
Akron at South Alabama
Northern Illinois at Southern Miss
Ohio at Texas State
Toledo at Troy
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App State Athletics Strategic Communications
425 Jack Branch Drive
Boone, NC, 28608
www.appstatesports.com
