This year’s ACC/Big Ten Challenge will feature 12 ranked teams and three matchups between teams that are featured in the latest AP Top 25 poll. The series starts Monday night and culminates in Wednesday night’s showdown between No. 7 Michigan and No. 11 North Carolina in Ann Arbor.

Here’s a glance at each matchup as the ACC tries to win its third straight ACC/Big Ten Challenge.

 

Nebraska at Clemson, Monday, November 26, 7 p.m. ET

The ACC/Big Ten Challenge kicks off with a pair of schools known for their football programs, but both can expect to make the NCAA tournament in basketball this season. Both schools are 5-1 entering the Challenge.

Clemson debuted at No. 22 in the preseason AP Top 25 poll after winning 25 games and making the Sweet 16 last season. The Tigers are experienced with four of their top five scorers being seniors, led by 6-3 guard Marcquise Reed at 19.8 points per game. Clemson lost its last time out in the Cayman Islands Championship game to Creighton.

Nebraska lost to the toughest opponent it has played this season when the Huskers fell 70-52 to Texas Tech in the Hall of Fame Classic title game. They have a similar profile to the Tigers – a top-20 defense balanced with a top-50 offense that’s led by upperclassmen. The senior trio of James Palmer Jr., Glynn Watson Jr. and Isaac Copeland Jr. average between 14 and 17 points per game with each player finishing as the team’s leading scorer twice this season.

 

Minnesota at Boston College, Monday, November 26, 9 p.m. ET

Two potential All-Americans will share the floor in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, Tuesday night, when Jordan Murphy and Minnesota travel east to face Ky Bowman and Boston College.

Listed at 6-7 and 250 pounds, Murphy is one of the best rebounders in the country. In fact, he’s the No. 1 defensive rebounder in the country through Sunday night with a 36.4 percent defensive rebounding rate. Murphy is averaging 14 points, 12.4 rebounds and four assists. Minnesota is undefeated, with wins over Washington and Texas A&M.

Boston College (4-1) will go as far as senior point guard Ky Bowman can take the Eagles. He leads the team in scoring at 21.8 points per game and he’s the team’s second-leading rebounder (6.6 rebounds per game) despite being 6-1. The Eagles have already suffered a bad home loss to IUPUI in which Bowman had a quiet game by his standards – 14 points, nine rebounds, four turnovers and one assist.

 

Virginia Tech at Penn State, Tuesday, November 27, 7 p.m. ET

Virginia Tech could be quietly heading towards being a top-10 team. Duke, Virginia and North Carolina have been ranked ahead of the Hokies in the first few weeks of the season, but Virginia Tech is undefeated with a neutral-court win over Purdue and the country’s seventh-most efficient offense.

The Hokies aren’t very big – 6-10 junior Kerry Blackshear is the only rotation player taller than 6-6 – but they create havoc on defense (28.2 percent turnover rate) without fouling (21.8 FTA/FGA, meaning opponents shoot just over one free throw for every five field goal attempts. Five players are shooting at least 40 percent from three so good luck trying to stop them in transition once they force a turnover.

November hasn’t been kind to Penn State, which has lost to DePaul and Bradley, the two best opponents it has faced. The Nittany Lions have a top-10 defense and a primary scoring option in Lamar Stevens (24.8 ppg) but they clearly miss point guard Tony Carr and big man Mike Watkins, who’s out indefinitely due to off-court matters.

 

Illinois at Notre Dame, Tuesday, November 27, 7 p.m. ET

Notre Dame (5-1) is among the high-major schools that have taken a questionable home loss after the Fighting Irish lost 63-60 to Radford but they seem to have righted the ship, winning three straight and beating DePaul by 25 on Saturday. Departed seniors Bonzie Colson, Matt Farrell and Martinas Geben left big shoes to fill and Notre Dame has replaced their scoring by committee, with six players averaging between seven and 13 points per game.

Illinois (2-4) is probably going to have to wait at least one more season to make a push for the NCAA tournament. The Fighting Illini lost four games in nine days after an eighth-place finish in the Maui Invitational. They pushed Gonzaga, falling 84-78, but left Hawaii without a win. If there’s a silver lining to Illinois’ first month of the season, it’s that the team has a promising backcourt in sophomore Trent Frazier and freshman Ayo Dosunmu.

 

Michigan State at Louisville, Tuesday, November 27, 7:30 p.m. ET

Michigan State and Louisville are trending in opposite directions after Feast Week. The Spartans went 2-0 in the Las Vegas Invitational with double-digit wins over UCLA and Texas while the Cardinals went 0-2 in the NIT Season Tip-Off. The Spartans rank in the top 10 in offensive efficiency and top 20 in defensive efficiency with a pair of lethal three-point shooters in Cassius Winston and Joshua Langford to space the floor around forward Nick Ward. Even at home, beating Michigan State is a tall task for Louisville.

 

Pittsburgh at Iowa, Tuesday, November 27, 9 p.m. ET

This game may rank in the bottom half of ACC/Big Ten Challenge matchups in terms of hype and allure, but both teams are (perhaps surprisingly) undefeated. Under new head coach Jeff Capel, Pitt is 6-0 (the Panthers were 2-4 in their first six games last year), even if half of their wins have come against teams ranked outside the top 300 on kenpom.com. A win is a win for a program that only won eight games last year.

Meanwhile, Iowa is ranked after winning the 2K Classic and the Hawkeyes have a top-15 offense led by forwards Tyler Cook (16 ppg, 6.8 rpg) and Luka Garza (16.2 ppg, 5.0 rpg). Iowa leads the country in free throw rate and it shoots nearly 80 percent from the line as a team, so there may not be a more dangerous team at the stripe this season.

 

NC State at Wisconsin, Tuesday, November 27, 9 p.m. ET

Is Wisconsin “back”? It’s a question that serves as easy fodder and asked all too often in regards to major sports programs on local radio and Twitter, but it appears the Badgers are once again Big Ten contenders after a disappointing 15-18 season. Ethan Happ is on pace for the best season of his career with averages of 17.8 points, 12.5 rebounds and 5.7 assists per game and D’Mitrik Trice is shooting a ridiculous 57 percent on 35 three-point attempts.

The Badgers will host an undefeated NC State team that has yet to play a high-major opponent or a road game. Senior Torin Dorn (18.2 ppg, 7.2 rpg) has led the Wolfpack in scoring in five of six games.

 

Indiana at Duke, Tuesday, November 27, 9:30 p.m. ET

In terms of brand recognition and one-and-done talent, this is the premier matchup in this year’s ACC/Big Ten Challenge slate. There’ll be four likely top-10 picks on the floor with Duke’s RJ Barrett, Zion Williamson and Cam Reddish, and Indiana’s Romeo Langford. The Blue Devils are coming off of their first loss of the season, while the Hoosiers will try to pick up a valuable road win after letting an opportunity at Arkansas slip through their hands earlier in the month.

Granted the rosters were different, but Duke won at Indiana 91-81 last season and 94-74 at Cameron Indoor Stadium in 2015.

 

Syracuse at Ohio State, Wednesday, November 28, 7:15 p.m. ET

Ohio State debuted at No. 1 in the unveiling of the NCAA’s new NET rankings. The metric was less kind to Syracuse, which is No. 92 despite being ranked in the AP Top 25 just two weeks ago.

The Buckeyes’ 6-0 start suggests another better-than-expected season under the direction of Chris Holtmann in Columbus, despite the departures of Big Ten Player of the Year Keita Bates-Diop and Jae’Sean Tate.

Syracuse’s 2-3 zone defense, which is ranked sixth in defensive efficiency, is as imposing as ever but the Orange missed senior point guard Franklin Howard, who missed the first four games due to injury. Syracuse lost two of those games to UConn and Oregon.

 

Rutgers at Miami, Wednesday, November 28, 7:15 p.m. ET

Miami will look to avoid its second straight loss to a school from New Jersey after falling to Seton Hall on Sunday in the Wooden Legacy Championship. While Rutgers’ advanced statistics indicate it might be slightly better this season than in years past, the Scarlet Knights are still the weak link in the Big Ten with an offense that ranks 260th in terms of efficiency.

Miami’s diminutive point guard Chris Lykes, who’s listed at 5-7, has exploded to start his sophomore year with a team-high 19.3 points, 3.3 assists and 3.2 rebounds per game to start his sophomore season. The Hurricanes are ranked in the top 30 in offensive and defensive efficiency, so they should contend for an NCAA tournament bid.

 

Virginia at Maryland, Wednesday, November 28, 7:30 p.m. ET

Virginia and Maryland have played 140 times, making this series as storied as almost any in the sport, given the proximity between the two schools and the fact that they used to play in the ACC together. Maryland leads the all-time series 83-57 but the Cavaliers enter Wednesday as the better team – at least on paper.

Both schools are 6-0 but Virginia’s neutral-court wins over Wisconsin and Dayton came against stronger competition than any team Maryland has faced. Despite its historic loss in last year’s NCAA tournament, Virginia has picked up where it left off last regular season, boasting the nation’s No. 2 defense and an improved offense thanks to the emergence of De’Andre Hunter.

 

Purdue at Florida State, Wednesday, November 28, 9:15 p.m. ET

Florida State can throw a lot of size and length at Purdue point guard Carsen Edwards, who’s taking nearly 40 percent of the team’s shots when he’s on the floor. The Seminoles’ shortest rotation player is 6-1, the same height as Edwards, and everyone else is at least 6-4.

Both teams are 5-1 with their only loss being by six points on a neutral court to a respectable opponent. Virginia Tech beat Purdue last week and Villanova bested Florida State.

 

Georgia Tech at Northwestern, Wednesday, November 28, 9:15 p.m. ET

You’d be hard-pressed to find a bigger disparity between a team’s offensive and defensive efficiency rankings than Georgia Tech. The Yellow Jackets have the country’s No. 14-ranked defense but they’re 199th offensively. Northwestern is also stronger on the defensive end than on offense but it possesses a better balance – ranked No. 31 on defense, No. 86 on offense.

Northwestern’s Vic Law is putting up career-best numbers in his final year of eligibility: 18.5 ppg, 5.8 rpg, 3.0 apg, 1.2 bpg, 46.6 FG%, 45.2 3P%.

 

North Carolina at Michigan, Wednesday, November 28, 9:30 p.m. ET

The schedule makers saved the best for last. North Carolina and Michigan are both ranked in the top seven on kenpom.com and in the top 11 of the latest AP Top 25 poll. The Tar Heels have the country’s No. 3 offense, the Wolverines have the country’s No. 1 defense.

North Carolina will want the score to reach the 90s while Michigan would prefer a game in the 60s or 70s.

The Tar Heels smacked the Wolverines 86-71 in Chapel Hill last season so you can bet that Michigan’s Charles Matthews, Zavier Simpson & Co. have been looking forward to this rematch since the ACC/Big Ten Challenge slate was announced. This game has a lot of appeal in terms of contrast of styles, top-ranked teams and recent history between the schools.