2011 Big Ten/ACC Challenge Predictions: Night One

The 2011 Big Ten/ACC Challenge gets underway tonight, with six games on tap this evening, and six more scheduled for tomorrow night.

Of course, tonight’s action is highlighted by the Top 5 showdown between Duke and Ohio State, and tomorrow night has Wisconsin traveling to take on North Carolina.

But for now, let’s break down tonight’s slate and make some predictions:

Miami (4-1) at Purdue (6-1) – 9 PM ET, ESPN 2

Purdue’s only loss of the season is at the hands of a hard-nosed defensive team in Alabama, while Miami dropped their most recent game on the road at Ole Miss in overtime. The Hurricanes have struggled to shoot the ball well, and that has to be a concern heading into this one. The Boilermakers have already been tested with quality wins over Temple and Iona, and quite frankly, seem to be the better team here. Miami has only scored over 70 twice this season, while Purdue has only scored less than 70 twice. Something’s gotta give.

Prediction: Purdue 76, Miami 64

Northwestern (5-0) at Georgia Tech (4-2) – 7:15 PM ET, ESPNU

Neither team has played a ridiculously difficult schedule, so it’s hard to gauge just how good they are to this point. Glen Rice Jr. has been fantastic for the Yellow Jackets this season in the games that he’s played, and Kammeon Holsey is shooting a whopping 73% from the field. On the other side, John Shurna and Drew Crawford have been scoring machines as usual. The key to the game here will be rebounding, as Northwestern gave up 17 offensive rebounds to Stony Brook in their last outing. Yes, Stony Brook. Tech isn’t a bad rebounding team, so that better be corrected immediately. This one should go down to the wire, but I’m taking the minor upset here.

Prediction: Georgia Tech 65, Northwestern 62

Illinois (6-0) at Maryland (3-2) – 7:30 PM ET, ESPN

Illinois has flown under the radar thus far, but that’s mostly because they haven’t played anyone. Wins over Richmond and Illinois State are the best on their resume to this point, so they could use a quality road win against the Terrapins. At no time this season has Maryland looked all that impressive, and their coming off of a lackluster six-point victory over Florida Gulf Coast. Their free throw shooting has been terrible, which is something to keep an eye on, especially since we expect this to be a tightly-contested game. Illinois hasn’t proven itself yet and Maryland still has a lot of work to do. This is a toss-up.

Prediction: Illinois 73, Maryland 68

#15 Michigan (5-1) at Virginia (5-1) – 7 PM ET, ESPN 2

Now this one will be fun. Two excellent defensive teams will take the floor, and you can expect it to be a back and forth, grind it out type of game. I wouldn’t expect a high-scoring affair, as both teams are averaging under 70 points on the year. The Wolverines have obviously been tested more with their trip to Maui, but let’s not discount the fact that Virginia opponents have only scored over 50 on two occasions this season. I don’t care who you’re playing. That’s impressive. They’ll have to step it up even more tonight to combat the balanced attack of Michigan, led by Tim Hardaway Jr. who has had the type of season we all thought he could have. Whether you like defensive contests or not, this is going to be a great basketball game. Virginia will be hyped, but in the end, Michigan will have enough offensively to find a few holes in the Cavalier defense.

Prediction: Michigan 64, Virginia 60

Clemson (3-2) at Iowa (4-2) – 9:15 PM ET, ESPNU

This matchup will certainly be lost in the shuffle, as both teams have been rather disappointing early in the season. This was suppose to be the year that the Hawkeyes broke out and made it to the Big Dance. Losing a home game to Campbell by 16 doesn’t help that cause. They’ve managed to score a lot of points, however, they haven’t played anyone but Creighton, which resulted in a 23-point shellacking. Brad Brownell‘s team hasn’t been much better, with home losses to College of Charleston and Coastal Carolina. So yeah, who knows what to expect from these two wildly inconsistent teams. When in doubt, take the home team.

Prediction: Iowa 77, Clemson 69

#4 Duke (7-0) at #2 Ohio State (6-0) – 9:30 PM ET, ESPN

And now for the main event. After North Carolina’s loss to UNLV, both of these teams have strong cases to be ranked as the best in the land. And whoever wins tonight probably should be. Following Duke’s opening victory against Belmont by one, there were rumblings that they were overrated. But after a Maui Invitational title, that’s not even a discussion anymore. Duke has been battle tested early, but this is a different animal. Ohio State has played all six at home this year, so they’re settled in and ready for a fight. The Buckeyes’ offensive efficiency has been superb, with the usual suspects leading the way.

Yes, Coach K’s bunch has seen a lot already this season. However, they haven’t seen a team like Ohio State that brings so many challenges defensively. Not Kansas. Not Michigan. Not Michigan State. None of those teams have the offensive firepower that this team has with Jared Sullinger, William Buford, and Deshaun Thomas playing some great basketball right now. Oh, and let’s not forget about the facilitator, Aaron Craft. He’s going to be very important tonight, maybe even more so on the defensive end.

The Blue Devils obviously have a lot of offense as well with Seth Curry, Austin Rivers, and Ryan Kelly averaging above 14 a game. So Ohio State will have some decisions to make on defense too. It’s hard to pick against Duke given what we saw them do last week, but this is a loaded Ohio State team at home. They’ll find a way to win.

Prediction: Ohio State 79, Duke 71

What are your thoughts on tonight’s games in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge?

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