Virginia Will Host Michigan in the 2013 Big Ten/ACC Challenge

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May 16, 2013

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The Atlantic Coast Conference and Big Ten announced on Thursday the matchups for the 2013 Big Ten/ACC Women’s Basketball Challenge. This year’s challenge will mark the seventh year of the event that has been extended to 2016. Virginia will host Michigan on Thursday, Dec. 5. At John Paul Jones Arena in Charlottesville. The game time will be announced at a later date.

All 12 Big Ten teams and 12 of the 15 ACC teams will participate in the 2013 Challenge, including Notre Dame and Syracuse, which will join the league on July 1, 2013.

Challenge games will be contested in a two-day format, beginning Wednesday, Dec. 4. Georgia Tech and Florida State will host games on the first day, while Notre Dame and Virginia Tech will be on the road. On Dec. 5, Duke, Maryland, North Carolina and Virginia will host Big Ten foes, and NC State, Boston College, Syracuse and Miami visit their inter-conference foes.

A year ago, ACC teams combined for a 7-5 mark against its Big Ten counterparts to win its fifth Challenge title. The ACC owns a 41-27 edge over the Big Ten in the Challenge. The two leagues each earned six wins in 2011 to mark the only tie in Challenge history.

Virginia, which is 5-1 in Challenge games, defeated Minnesota on the road, 90-68, in the 2012 Big Ten/ACC Challenge. The Cavaliers are 2-1 against the Wolverines. The two last met Dec. 28, 2002 with Virginia coming away with a 78-64 victory.

The ACC and Big Ten conference offices determine the schedule each season. In addition, the official title of the Challenge rotates each year. The 2013 event will be referred to as the Big Ten/ACC Women’s Basketball Challenge and will continue to mirror the official title of the two conferences’ Challenge agreement for men’s basketball.

The ACC and the Big Ten have long been among the most dominant conferences on the women’s basketball scene. Last season, the ACC was represented by six overall postseason squads, including five teams in the NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship. The five teams in the tournament marked the 19th consecutive season at least four ACC teams have been selected to the field. Overall, the ACC has made 14 Final Four appearances.

For the sixth time in conference history, the Big Ten had at least six teams selected to the NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship in 2013, and Big Ten teams have appeared in the NCAA Sweet 16 in 27 of the last 29 years.

2013 Big Ten/ACC Women’s Basketball Challenge game times, as well as television and broadband coverage, will be announced at a later date. For more information about The Challenge, including a complete schedule, visit theacc.com.

2013 CHALLENGE SCHEDULE

Wednesday, December 4
Notre Dame at Penn State
Illinois at Georgia Tech
Virginia Tech at Indiana
Michigan State at Florida State

Thursday, December 5
NC State at Northwestern
Boston College at Wisconsin
Syracuse at Iowa
Purdue at Duke
Ohio State at Maryland
Nebraska at North Carolina
Michigan at Virginia
Miami at Minnesota