NCAA Basketball: Preview for the 2018 ACC/Big Ten Challenge

Georgia Tech at Northwestern – Nov. 28

In a rematch of their 2017 ACC/Big Ten Challenge game, the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets and Northwestern Wildcats will face off once again. The Yellow Jackets won last year’s meeting, 52-51, on Nov. 28 when they held homecourt advantage. This time around, though, Northwestern looks to hold court and seal a victory.

The Wildcats will be led by rising senior Vic Law, who put up 12 points, five rebounds and three steals in last year’s contest. Law returns as Northwestern’s leading scorer (12.0 points per game) despite missing the season’s final five games due to injury. The addition of former Evansville guard Ryan Taylor should play a role as well. Taylor is a 6-foot-6 grad transfer who scored 21.3 points per game on 42.4% shooting from 3-point range. He put up at least 20 points in 18 of 25 games last season for Evansville.

They will lose three of their top five scorers from a season ago but the addition of Taylor should help. Northwestern also will benefit from the reclassification of Ryan Greer to the 2018 recruiting class. Greer was originally a member of the 2019 recruiting class after averaging 12.8 points, 7.2 rebounds and 4.5 assists per contest for Northfield Mount Hermon in Massachusetts as a junior this past year.

Georgia Tech will need to replace big man Ben Lammers among other things in 2018-19. They went 13-19 last season but won their ACC/Big Ten Challenge game, so that’s always a plus. The Yellow Jackets will be young and inexperienced but Jose Alvarado will have tons of players to work with as their rotation will boast seven sophomores, three juniors, three freshmen and just two seniors.