University Park, Pa. — The Nittany Lion basketball team will take on Boston College in Chestnut Hill, Mass. on Wednesday, Nov. 30 as part of the 2011 Big Ten/ACC Challenge Presented by DICK’s Sporting Goods.
All 12 games in the 13th annual staging of the Challenge between two of the most successful college basketball conferences will be televised by a combination of ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU and ESPN3.com. Tip times and television arrangements will be announced at a later date. Nine of the 12 games in the 2011 event, including Penn State at BC, will feature first-time Challenge meetings.
Penn State has won three of its last four Challenge games, but had a three-game win streak snapped last year with a 62-39 loss to Maryland in the Bryce Jordan Center. Penn State stands 4-6 in 10 Challenge appearances, tied with Purdue, Michigan and Minnesota for the sixth-best Challenge mark in the Big Ten. Wisconsin leads the Big Ten with six Challenge victories. The Big Ten won its second-straight Challenge last year, and second overall, posting a 6-5 advantage in the win column.
The 2011 Challenge will tipoff on Tuesday, Nov. 29 with six games. Northwestern will play at Georgia Tech, Illinois at Maryland and Michigan at Virginia while Clemson will travel to Iowa, Miami (Fla.) will travel to Purdue, and Duke will go to Ohio State for a clash of teams ranked in the preseason top five by ESPN.com’s Andy Katz.
The Challenge wraps up on Wednesday, Nov. 30 with six more games. Indiana will play at North Carolina State and Wisconsin will head to North Carolina while Florida State will play at Michigan State, Virginia Tech at Minnesota and Wake Forest at first-year participant Nebraska.
Penn State has knocked of Virginia Tech (2007), won at Georgia Tech (2008) and won at Virginia (2009) in Challenges in the last four years. This will be the Lions’ first ever Challenge meeting vs. Boston College. The teams have met 11 times previously with BC holding a tenuous 6-5 lead in the series. The Eagles are 2-2 at home against the Lions. The last meeting in the series occurred in 2001 in Chestnut Hill with BC claiming an 88-65 victory. Boston College defeated Indiana in Chestnut Hill in last year’s Challenge and is unbeaten (5-0) in its previous Challenge appearances.
The last three Challenges have been decided by a 6-5 mark and seven of the previous 12 Challenges have been decided by one game. The ACC has won 10 of the 12 Challenges. In 2010, Penn State became the first ever Big Ten program to win Challenge games in three consecutive seasons. Since 2000, the ACC (10) and Big Ten (9) have combined for 19 Final Four appearances and six national titles.
2011 Big Ten/ACC Challenge schedule (times and networks are to be determined):
Tue, Nov 29
Miami at Purdue
Northwestern at Georgia Tech
Illinois at Maryland
No. 23 Michigan at Virginia
Clemson at Iowa
No. 5 Duke at No. 3 Ohio State
Wed, Nov 30
Indiana at North Carolina State
Penn State on Boston College
No. 21 Florida State at Michigan State
Virginia Tech at Minnesota
Wake Forest at Nebraska
No. 11 Wisconsin at No. 1 North Carolina
