UNC to face Indiana in ACC/Big Ten Challenge

By R.L. Bynum

North Carolina men’s basketball will play Indiana next season in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge and, for the fourth time in five Challenge meetings, the game will be played in Bloomington, Ind.

ESPN announced the Challenge matchups on Friday. The Carolina-Indiana game will be played Wednesday, Nov. 30, no doubt at either 9 p.m. or 9:30, although the times weren’t announced. The game will air either on ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPNU.

Their first Challenge meeting was in Chapel Hill in 2001 but every successive Challenge meeting has been at Indiana, with the Hoosiers winning three of the four meetings. The fifth meeting will match the UNC-Michigan State series as Carolina’s most frequent Challenge opponent.

Carolina, which is 11–12 in the Challenge, will be among the top-ranked teams in the country next season after returning four starters from last season’s team that made a run to the NCAA final to finish 29–10. The Hoosiers finished 21–14 and beat Wyoming in the First Four before falling to Saint Mary’s 82–53 in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

Coach Mike Woodson’s team will be led by 6–9 senior forward Trayce Jackson-Davis (top photo), who averaged team-highs of 18.3 points and 8.1 rebounds last season. He went through the NBA draft process before pulling his name in late May.

Indiana leads the all-time series 9–6.

Since the start of the Challenge in 1999, the ACC holds a 12–8–3 advantage in the event and is 144–121 in Challenge games.

UNC’s game is one of four matchups of 2022 NCAA Tournament teams along with Ohio State at Duke, Rutgers at Miami and Michigan State at Notre Dame.

There are two first-time ACC/Big Ten Challenge games this year, with Maryland visiting Louisville and Syracuse playing at Illinois. 

UNC-Indiana matchups in ACC-Big Ten Challenge

2001 — No. 24 Indiana won 79–66 in Chapel Hill
2004 — No. 9 Carolina won 70–63 in Bloomington behind five 3-pointers from Rashad McCants
2012 — No. 1 Indiana beat No. 14 UNC 83–49 in Bloomington
2016 — No. 13 Indiana beat No. 3 UNC 76–67 in Bloomington

Photo via @IndianaMBB

Leave a comment