NCAA Basketball: Villanova’s fall, holiday breakdown among biggest takeaways
By Joey Loose
6. The ACC/Big Ten Challenge
With network TV deals changing in the coming years, we’ve gotten the news that this will be the final ACC/Big Ten Challenge, ending a conference challenge that has entertained us for more than two decades. This final challenge has provided us a fair share of intriguing moments already, so let’s look at where things stand after Tuesday night’s games.
On Monday night, the ACC got two big wins to open up the series. Virginia Tech held on for a 67-57 home win against Minnesota in a result that was somewhat expected. What wasn’t expected is how Northwestern played at home that night, dropping an 87-58 game to a Pittsburgh team that has looked fallible this season. The ACC got things off to a 2-0 start.
Tuesday saw the Big Ten get back into the series, but the ACC still holds the lead as we speak. Illinois, Maryland, and Iowa each won their games by double-digits, taking care of Syracuse, Louisville, and Georgia Tech respectively. Unfortunately for the Big Ten, the ACC pulled out wins in the three closer contests of the night. Wake Forest held on for a 3-point win at Wisconsin, Clemson persevered against Penn State and won in double overtime, and Virginia went to Ann Arbor and handled Michigan in a 70-68 victory.
Six games will follow on Wednesday, with the ACC clinging to a 5-3 lead in the series at the moment. There are some very exciting games on the docket, including Ohio State at Duke and North Carolina at Indiana, games that could go either way. A very impressive Purdue squad takes on a dreadful Florida State team, while ACC hopefuls Miami and Notre Dame get home games that would help build their early resumes.
It’s too early to call this final challenge, especially if the Big Ten catches fire on the final night, but it’s easy to say that we’ll miss this series. There are a ton of conference challenges in the sport already, and new ones likely on the horizon, but there was something special when the ACC and Big Ten matched up like this. It was the first big conference challenge and there were always marquee matchups between these fantastic basketball programs. Let’s enjoy this final day of basketball and hope it’s not the end of ACC and Big Ten teams matchup in the non-conference.