Matchups for the 13th annual Big Ten/ACC Challenge have been determined. Illinois will travel to College Park, Md., to face Maryland on Nov. 29 in college basketball’s best pre-conference event
Illinois and Maryland will meet for the fourth time in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge – and the third time at College Park – with the Illini looking for their first Challenge win against the Terrapins. This will mark the ninth overall meeting between the programs, with Maryland holding a 5-3 edge in the all-time series.
You might remember Illinois and Maryland meeting last season in New York City, with the Illini claiming an 80-76 victory in the third-place game of the 2K Sports Classic Benefiting Coaches vs. Cancer.
Illinois owns a 5-7 all-time record in the Challenge, including two straight wins: at Clemson in 2009 and over North Carolina last year at the Assembly Hall.
Northwestern will travel to Georgia Tech Tuesday, Nov. 29.
It is the second straight year that the Wildcats and the Yellow Jackets are squaring off in the Challenge. Northwestern cruised to a 91-71 victory in the first-ever meeting between the teams Nov. 30 at Welsh-Ryan Arena.
The game will serve as a homecoming for guard JerShon Cobb, a native of nearby Decatur, Ga.
Northwestern is slated to return four starters and nine letterwinners from last year’s squad which went 20-14, including 7-11 in Big Ten play. The Wildcats advanced to the quarterfinal round of the National Invitation Tournament, the teams third consecutive postseason appearance.
Georgia Tech posted a 13-18 overall record and a 5-11 mark in ACC play during the 2010-11 campaign. The Yellow Jackets are set to begin their first season under new head coach Brian Gregory who served as an assistant coach at Northwestern during the 1997-98 and 1998-99 seasons.
Northwestern is 5-7 in its first 12 Big Ten/ACC Challenge matchups, including wins each of the last three years. Prior to the 2010-11 season, the only Big Ten team to win Challenge games in three consecutive years was Penn State. Ohio State and Wisconsin joined NU this year in adding to that list.