While Big Ten schools continue to wait on final word from the Big Ten regarding basketball schedules, the Big Ten/ACC Challenge appears to be going forward, at least for now. Nebraska will see a familiar foe, as the first portion of the revised 2020-21 men’s basketball schedule was revealed Friday morning.
The Huskers will host Georgia Tech in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge at Pinnacle Bank Arena on Wednesday, Dec. 9. The start time and television information will be announced at a later date. All 14 games are carried on the ESPN family of networks (ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU) and available on the ESPN app.
Up for the challenge. ✊#B1GACC | #GBR pic.twitter.com/I8nCwc30sM
— Nebraska Basketball (@HuskerHoops) October 30, 2020
Georgia Tech went 17-14 including 11-9 in ACC play last season and returns six of its eight regular rotation players including their top three scorers. Junior Michael Devoe, a 6-foot-5 guard, led the team in scoring at 16.0 points per game while shooting 42.7% from deep. Senior point guard Jose Alvarado led the Yellow Jackets with 4.0 assists per game while scoring 14.4 points per game himself. Senior Moses Wright, a 6-foot-9 forward, led the frontcourt with 13.0 points per game and also added 7.0 refunds and 1.1 blocks per game.
Georgia Tech did lose James Banks III, a 6-foot-10 center, the ACC’s second-leading shot-blocker (2.5 per game) who also led the Yellow Jackets in rebounding (7.6 per game) while chipping in 9.5 points per game.
In last year’s meeting, Devoe led the Yellow Jackets with 26 points, eight rebounds and seven assists while Wright added 18 points and nine boards. The Huskers shot 32.3% from the field in that game with Haanif Cheatham recording a 14-point, 11-rebound double-double. Thorir Thorbjarnarson added 11 points and seven rebounds off the bench.
The rest of the matchups are as follows: North Carolina at Iowa, Purdue at Miami, Penn State at Virginia Tech, Louisville at Wisconsin, Pittsburgh at Northwestern, Maryland at Clemson, Boston College at Minnesota, Illinois at Duke, Syracuse at Rutgers, Indiana at Florida State, Ohio State at Notre Dame, North Carolina State at Michigan and Michigan State at Virginia.
The Big Ten won last year’s Challenge 8-6.
The Gavitt Games, the annual challenge pitting Big Ten and Big East teams against each other, is taking a hiatus this year, though Nebraska was not scheduled to participate this season anyway.
Creighton coach Greg McDermott said recently that he and Fred Hoiberg have had discussions about trying to get a game scheduled between the two in-state rivals. They were originally scheduled to play each other on Dec. 12, but the Big East announced a December schedule for its teams that will begin on that date.
