May 2, 2006
ATLANTA – Georgia Tech will face Penn State at Alexander Memorial Coliseum in the 2006 ACC/Big Ten Challenge, the two conferences and ESPN announced Tuesday. The game will tip-off at 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 28 and be televised on ESPNU.
The Yellow Jackets and Nittany Lions have met only once before, a 75-70 Penn State victory in the third round of the 1998 National Invitation Tournament at the Thrillerdome.
Penn State joins a tough non-conference lineup for Georgia Tech in 2006-07 that includes a Thanksgiving-week trip to the Maui Invitational (Nov. 20-22), in which DePaul, Kentucky, Memphis, Oklahoma, Purdue, UCLA and host Chaminade are possible opponents. The Yellow Jackets also will have home games against state-rival Georgia and Centenary, as well as a trip to Vanderbilt.
The entire Tech basketball schedule for 2006-07 will be announced in August.
The Yellow Jackets are 3-4 in their previous ACC/Big Ten Challenge meetings, including an 88-86 loss at Michigan State last year. Two of those games have been played at Alexander Memorial Coliseum, a 99-68 win over Michigan in 2004 and a 62-61 win over Wisconsin in 2001. Tech has also played at Ohio State (a 73-53 win in 2003), Iowa (lost 85-67 in 2000) and Minnesota (lost 64-63 in 2002), and lost an 80-77 decision to Michigan in 1999 at Philips Arena. Tech is 14-28 all-time against the Big Ten.
For the second consecutive year, the event will feature 11 games (an increase from nine in the six previous years) from 11 different college campuses and include two telecasts on ESPNU, the 24-hour college sports network. ESPN and ESPN2 will combine to televise the remaining nine games. This year’s event will be played on the Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday after Thanksgiving (November 27-29).
Since 2000, these two conferences have combined to make 13 Final Four appearances and captured four of the last seven 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.
ESPN’s coverage of the 2005 Big Ten/ACC Challenge experienced audience growth over the 2004 event. ESPN’s four telecasts in 2005 averaged a 1.7 rating and 1,493,000 households for increases of 6 percent (vs. 1.6) and 5 percent (vs. 1,423,000) over the four games in 2004.
2006 ACC/Big Ten Challenge Schedule
(All times Eastern)
Monday, Nov. 27
Michigan at N.C. State (ESPN2), 7 p.m.
Tuesday, Nov. 28
Maryland at Illinois (ESPN), 7 p.m.
Florida State at Wisconsin (ESPN2), 7:30 p.m.
Penn State at Georgia Tech (ESPNU), 8 p.m.
Indiana at Duke (ESPN), 9 p.m.
Miami at Northwestern (ESPN2), 9:30 p.m.
Wednesday, Nov. 29
Michigan State at Boston College (ESPN), 7 p.m.
Virginia at Purdue (ESPN2), 7:30 p.m.
Iowa at Virginia Tech (ESPNU), 8 p.m.
Ohio State at North Carolina (ESPN), 9 p.m.
Clemson at Minnesota (ESPN2), 9:30 p.m.
