June 9, 2004
ATLANTA – Georgia Tech, coming off a run to the national championship game and a tie for third place in the Atlantic Coast Conference last season, will play Michigan on Nov. 30 at Alexander Memorial Coliseum in the sixth-annual ACC-Big Ten Challenge.
The game will be nationally televised by ESPN and tip off at 7 p.m. Tech and Michigan will be meeting for the second time in this event, and for the seventh time overall, and the series is tied 3-3. The Wolverines took an 80-77 victory in the most recent meeting, played at Philips Arena in the first ACC-Big Ten Challenge in 1999.
Tech finished last season with a 28-10 record, 9-7 in the ACC, and lost to Connecticut, 82-73, in the NCAA Tournament national championship game in San Antonio. Michigan was 23-11 overall, 8-8 in the Big Ten, and won the NIT title with a 62-55 victory over Rutgers.
The Yellow Jackets are 2-3 in their previous ACC-Big Ten Challenge meetings, including a 73-53 victory at Ohio State last December and a 62-61 win over Wisconsin in 2001, their only other home game in the event. Tech has also played at Iowa (lost 85-67 in 2000) and Minnesota (lost 64-63 in 2002).
ESPN and ESPN2 will combine to televise the nine-game Challenge Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, November 29 through December 1, from nine different college campuses. It will mark the third consecutive year that every game will be televised nationally in a three-day schedule (ESPN Regional Television televised one game each of the first three years).
The ACC won six of nine games last year and captured its fifth consecutive Commissioner’s Cup. This year’s Challenge features eight of the top 25 teams in last year’s final ESPN/USA Today coaches’ poll.
Since 2000, these two conferences have combined to make 10 Final Four appearances, capturing three of the last five NCAA Championships. In addition, the ACC and Big Ten rank either first or second in all-time NCAA Tournament bids, victories and Final Four appearances.
The entire Georgia Tech men’s basketball schedule will be announced in mid-August.
ACC-BIG TEN CHALLENGE SCHEDULE
Monday, Nov. 29Purdue at N.C. State [ESPN], 7 p.m.
Tuesday, Nov. 30 Michigan at Georgia Tech [ESPN], 7 p.m. Florida State at Minnesota [ESPN2], 7:30 p.m. Michigan State at Duke [ESPN], 9 p.m. Maryland at Wisconsin [ESPN2], 9:30 p.m.
Wednesday, Dec. 1 Wake Forest at Illinois [ESPN], 7 p.m. Ohio State at Clemson [ESPN2], 7:30 p.m. North Carolina at Indiana [ESPN], 9 p.m. Virginia at Northwestern [ESPN2], 9:30 p.m.
