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Maryland will play their first ACC/Big Ten Challenge as a member of the latter conference this season, and whoever is left on the Terrapin roster will host the Virginia Cavaliers, Sports Illustrated's Brian Hamilton is reporting.
The Terrapins beat Virginia in late March in their last ACC home game -- the first time Mark Turgeon beat the Cavaliers in his Maryland career. The matchup makes a whole bunch of sense, despite the disparity in recent success between the two programs, pitting two teams that are (relatively) close geographically and have a whole ton of history (hi, Justin Anderson).
It's a nice surprise for Maryland fans, many of whom expected lower-tier "local" matchups like Virginia Tech or Pittsburgh in the challenge. While those two are likely opponents in the future (especially if Maryland's program does not drastically improve), being able to host the Cavaliers is a good get.
Michigan will host Syracuse, Louisville will host Ohio State, Wisconsin will host Duke and North Carolina will host Iowa in the other marquee matchups, Hamilton is reporting.
The full release from ESPN has the other matchups.
The full schedule:
Date | Game |
Mon, Dec 1 | Nebraska at Florida State |
Rutgers at Clemson | |
Tue, Dec 2 | No. 21 Syracuse at No. 24 Michigan |
Ohio State at No. 8 Louisville | |
Pittsburgh at Indiana | |
NC State at Purdue | |
Illinois at Miami (Fla.) | |
Minnesota at Wake Forest | |
Wed, Dec 3 | No. 2 Duke at No. 4 Wisconsin |
No. 18 Michigan State at Notre Dame | |
No. 25 Iowa at No. 6 North Carolina | |
No. 7 Virginia at Maryland | |
Georgia Tech at Northwestern | |
Virginia Tech at Penn State |