ACC-Big Ten Challenge has Duke at home with UNC, NC State on road
The coronavirus pandemic delayed it but the annual ACC-Big Ten Challenge is still planned to take place this college basketball season.
Normally spread over three nights during the week following Thanksgiving, the event was pushed back a week and will take place over two nights Dec. 8-9.
Duke will play Illinois at Cameron Indoor Stadium on Dec. 8, the same night North Carolina travels to play at Iowa. N.C. State plays at Michigan on Dec. 9.
One ACC team annually sits out the event since the Big Ten has 14 teams and the ACC has 15. Wake Forest will not participate in this year’s challenge, marking the second time in three years the Demon Deacons had that distinction.
Duke will put its eight-game winning streak in the ACC-Big 10 Challenge on the line when it plays Illinois. Duke is 19-2 overall in ACC-Big Ten Challenge games and has won all nine games played at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
Duke and Illinois met in the first two ACC-Big Ten Challenges in 1999 and 2000, but have not met in the event since. Duke beat Illinois 72-69 in Chicago in 1999 and won 78-77 the following season in Greensboro.
UNC last played Iowa in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge in 2014, when the Hawkeyes won 60-55 at the Smith Center in Chapel Hill.
After splitting games with Wisconsin in the last two ACC-Big Ten Challenges, N.C. State faces Michigan in the event for the first time since 2015. The Wolverines won 66-59 at PNC Arena that year.
The ACC has won 12 of the 21 previous challenges with the Big Ten winning six and the leagues tying three times.
Here’s the entire schedule for this year’s challenge. All games will be televised on ESPN channels but exact times and TV networks for each game will be set at a later date.
2020 ACC/Big Ten Challenge
Dec. 8
Boston College at Minnesota
Illinois at Duke
North Carolina at Iowa
Ohio State at Notre Dame
Penn State at Virginia Tech
Purdue at Miami
Syracuse at Rutgers
Dec. 9
Georgia Tech at Nebraska
Indiana at Florida State
Louisville at Wisconsin
Maryland at Clemson
Michigan State at Virginia
NC State at Michigan
Pitt at Northwestern
This story was originally published October 30, 2020 at 10:23 AM.