Northwestern University Athletics
Wildcats Will Face Virginia in 2007 Big Ten/ACC Challenge
4/17/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
April 17, 2007
EVANSTON, Ill. -- The Big Ten Conference today announced the pairings for the 2007 Big Ten/ACC Challenge, with Northwestern traveling to Charlottesville, Va., to take on the Virginia Cavaliers at 7/6 p.m. CT on Tuesday, Nov. 27 in front of a nationally televised audience on ESPNU. The meeting will mark the third time the two schools have been paired together in the Challenge.
The Wildcats, who return three starters from last year's team, are making their ninth-straight appearance in the Challenge. Last year Northwestern defeated Miami (Fla.), 61-59, in a game where sophomore guard Craig Moore (So., Doylestown, Pa./Lawrenceville [N.J] Prep) tied a Northwestern record with seven 3-pointers.
Northwestern returns nearly 65 percent of its scoring from last season, including freshman Kevin Coble (Phoenix, Ariz./Scottsdale Christian Academy) who was named to the 2007 Big Ten All-Freshman Team. Coble became the first Wildcat in school history to lead the team in both scoring (13.4) and rebounding (5.2).
Virginia finished last season with a 21-11 overall record. They advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament and tied for the Atlantic Coast Conference regular season championship with an 11-5 conference record. The Cavaliers return leading scorer Sean Singletary, a first-team All-ACC selection the past two years, who averaged 19.0 ppg last season.
For the third 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 26-28).
Since 2000, these two conferences have combined to make 14 Final Four appearances and captured four of the last eight 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.
Below is the complete 2007 ACC/Big Ten Challenge. All times are Eastern.
Monday, Nov. 26
Wake Forest @ Iowa, 7 p.m., ESPN2
Tuesday, Nov. 27
Georgia Tech @ Indiana, 7 p.m., ESPN
Minnesota at Florida State, 7:30 p.m., ESPN2
Northwestern at Virginia, 7 p.m., ESPNU
Wisconsin at Duke, 9 p.m., ESPN
Purdue at Clemson, 9:30 p.m., ESPN2
Wednesday, Nov. 28
N.C. State at Michigan State, 7 p.m., ESPN
Illinois at Maryland, 7:30 p.m., ESPN2
Boston College at Michigan, 8 p.m., ESPNU
North Carolina at Ohio State, 9 p.m., ESPN
Virginia Tech at Penn State, 9:30 p.m., ESPN2
