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CHARLOTTESVILLE—The Virginia men’s basketball team will play Penn State on Nov. 30 at John Paul Jones Arena in the 11th Big Ten/ACC Challenge.
The game will be the first meeting between Virginia and Penn State in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge. UVa leads the series with the Nittany Lions 5-2 and the two teams have not played since the 1984-85 season when the Cavaliers won 66-54 in New Orleans, La., in the Sugar Bowl Classic Tournament.
Penn State finished the 2008-09 season with an overall record of 26-11 and won the National Invitation Tournament Championship. UVa was 10-18 in 2008-09.
Virginia lost at Minnesota 66-56 in last season’s Big Ten/ACC Challenge, while Penn State won 85-83 at Georgia Tech. The Cavaliers have a 5-4 record in the Challenge and Penn State is 3-6.
The 2009 Big Ten/ACC Challenge is scheduled for Nov. 30 – Dec. 2 and features 11 games.
The Virginia-Penn State game is the only game scheduled for Nov. 30.
Games scheduled for Dec. 1 include Maryland at Indiana, Michigan State at North Carolina, Northwestern at NC State, Virginia Tech at Iowa and Wake Forest at Purdue. On Dec. 2, the schedule includes Boston College at Michigan, Duke at Wisconsin, Florida State at Ohio State, Illinois at Clemson and Minnesota at Miami.
Starting times and television networks for this year’s Big Ten/ACC Challenge games have not yet been announced.
The ACC has won the Commissioner’s Cup the 10 previous years of the Challenge. The ACC won six of the 11 games last season.
Virginia lost at Minnesota 74-62 in the first Big Ten/ACC Challenge during the 1999-2000 season and then defeated Purdue (98-79) at University Hall during the 2000-01 season.
Virginia played Michigan State in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge during the 2001-02 season, but the game was halted with 15:04 left in the contest due to wet floor conditions at the Richmond Coliseum in Richmond, Va. The unseasonably warm temperature (70 degrees) combined with the ice surface under the playing court produced condensation on the court causing slippery conditions that forced the game to be halted. UVa led 31-28 when play was stopped.
The Cavaliers lost at Michigan State (82-75) during the 2002-03 season, defeated Minnesota (86-78) at University Hall in 2003-04, won at Northwestern (48-44) during the 2004-05 season, defeated Northwestern at home (72-57) in the 2005-06 season, lost at Purdue (61-59) in 2006-07 and beat Northwestern (94-52) at John Paul Jones Arena in 2007-08.