The Purdue men’s basketball team will play host to Miami on Tuesday, Nov. 29, as part of the 13th annual ACC/Big Ten Challenge presented by Dick’s Sporting Goods. ESPN announced the lineup on Tuesday in a joint release with both conferences.
After taking to the road for last season’s event, the Boilermakers will host a Challenge game for the third time in four seasons.
Purdue is 2-0 all-time against the Hurricanes, having defeated Miami at the 1987 Palm Beach Classic and in the round of 32 of the 1999 NCAA Tournament in Boston. The contest is one of nine that will feature teams meeting for the first time in the Challenge.
The Boilers will be looking for their third-straight Challenge win, after defeating Wake Forest in 2009 and capturing an overtime thriller with Virginia Tech in 2010. Purdue is 4-6 all-time in the Challenge, including a 3-2 mark at Mackey Arena, and 29-14 (.674) against teams from the ACC.
The 2011 Challenge marks the first year of a new six-year cycle in which each team in both leagues will play three home games and three road games. With the Big Ten’s addition of Nebraska bringing the number of Challenge games to an even dozen, the winner of the previous year’s Challenge will be declared the winner of the Commissioner’s Cup in the event of a tie; by way of its second-consecutive title in 2010, the Big Ten owns the 2011 tiebreaker.
Game times and ESPN platform designations will be determined and announced later in the summer. ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU and ESPN3.com will combine to televise all 12 games of the two-day event.
Since 2000, the ACC and Big Ten have combined for 19 Final Four appearances and six national championships. The ACC leads all of Division I in NCAA Tournament victories and Final Four appearances, while the Big Ten is the standard bearer in NCAA Tournament appearances.
Purdue, one of eight programs in the nation to win at least 25 games in each of the last four seasons, posted a 26-8 record, finished second in the Big Ten and made its fifth-straight NCAA Tournament appearance in 2010-11. The Boilermakers return three starters and 10 letterwinners from a year ago, and are also set to welcome senior forward Robbie Hummel back from injury.
2011 ACC/Big Ten Challenge
Tuesday, Nov. 29
Miami at Purdue
Northwestern at Georgia Tech
Illinois at Maryland
Michigan at Virginia
Clemson at Iowa
Duke at Ohio State
Wednesday, Nov. 30
Indiana at North Carolina State
Penn State at Boston College
Florida State at Michigan State
Virginia Tech at Minnesota
Wake Forest at Nebraska
Wisconsin at North Carolina