With one day of games to go, the ACC/Big Ten Challenge is deadlocked with each conference having won four games. And after a road win was the more notable of the two games on Monday night, Tuesday proved to be a bad night to be on the road as home teams won all six games. Several could have gone either way and almost did.
This is a good way to build off the tournaments that made the last week a lot of fun. It’s what the ACC/Big Ten Challenge should be about, much as the ACC has dominated the series over the years.
Penn State knocked off Virginia Tech 63-62, handing the Hokies a loss in their first road game of the season behind 18 points – 13 in the second half – from freshman Myreon Jones, who the Nittany Lions are naturally very high on. It could give the Nittany Lions a needed boost as early Big Ten games loom this weekend.
In similar fashion, Notre Dame edged Illinois 76-74 in South Bend, with the Illini getting a good look at the buzzer that just didn’t drop. In some ways, that sums up their fortunes of late, as they have lost five of six while the Fighting Irish have now won four in a row, though the jury is out on them right now. The game featured nine lead changes in the first half
Another early one was a marathon between Michigan State and Louisville, another that could have gone either way as it took overtime. In the extra session, Louisville had just a little more as they pulled out the first signature win of the Chris Mack era by an 82-78 margin over the Spartans. The Spartans certainly had their chances to win this one.
One game that might have surprised some was in Iowa City, where Pittsburgh traveled to take on Iowa. The Hawkeyes’ fine start, which includes winning the 2K Empire Classic in impressive fashion, might have led some to think they should take this against a rebuilding (albeit 6-0 coming in) Pittsburgh team. But the Panthers took a six-point halftime lead and gave the Hawkeyes all they could handle before succumbing 69-68, and they had chances to win it at the end. The Panthers held the Hawkeyes to 36.5 percent shooting to give themselves a chance in their first road game of the season.
Meanwhile, NC State had a nice first half in Wisconsin, then scored the first five points of the second half to go up 41-29. At that point, the Badgers dug deep and scored the next five points to start a 13-4 run to get right back into the game, though the Wolfpack would again go up by double digits nearly seven minutes into the second half. The Badgers gradually came back and finally took the lead with over two minutes left, then did so for good with over a minute left in a 79-75 win.
The last game of the night was much hyped, but was the worst game from a competitive standpoint as Duke took care of Indiana 90-69. While Indiana will certainly be relevant this season and has enough to make a run at an NCAA Tournament bid, from a talent standpoint the Hoosiers are no match for the Blue Devils.
One night with six games remain to determine the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. The ACC looks strong once again and the Big Ten looks ready to bounce back from a down year, making this all the more interesting.
Side Dishes
One of the highlights of the slate of games outside of the ACC/Big Ten Challenge was a rematch of a regional semifinal game from last season as Nevada visited Loyola-Chicago. As part of their legendary Final Four run, Loyola beat the Wolfpack by one, but this one was not in doubt for long. Nevada shot 62.5 percent in the first half to run out to a 44-28 lead and went on to win 79-65 behind a combined 41 points from Martin twins Caleb (21 points) and Cody (20).
One game on Tuesday night’s slate that I have to think few people enjoyed watching was UNC Greensboro annihilating Greensboro 111-33, scoring 47 points in the first half alone to put the game out of reach. Greensboro, by the way, is a Division III school.
Vanderbilt suffered a big blow to their hopes for this season as head coach Bryce Drew announced Darius Garland is done for the season – and likely his college career – after surgery for a meniscus injury in his left knee. A hometown kid, Garland made an instant impact prior to the injury as the team’s best player as part of a young core. The Commodores went on to lose to Kent State in Friday’s game, when he was injured early on. While the Commodores did fine without him on Tuesday night, blowing out Savannah State 120-85, most of their remaining games come against significantly tougher opponents. Garland is a projected lottery pick in next June’s NBA Draft, so chances are he has played his last game in Nashville.
Another SEC team will be without a key player for a while, and this time it’s South Carolina as Justin Minaya will be out indefinitely after he has surgery on his right knee later this week. Minaya suffered the injury in practice on Sunday, just two days after Garland suffered his season-ending knee injury. The sophomore forward will go right into rehab, but when he will return is unknown at the moment.
One other injury that flew under our radar a day earlier: Richmond has lost their best player for the rest of the season as Nick Sherod has a torn ACL in his knee, which he suffered in the Spiders’ blowout loss to Hampton on Sunday night. The junior can still get a medical redshirt, but it’s a big blow to a team that is already struggling amidst mumbles that Chris Mooney’s seat is a little hot coming off their first losing season in 11 years and without an NCAA Tournament appearance since 2011.
Before their game on Tuesday night that we talked about earlier, Illinois suspended Tevian Jones for a violation of team rules. The suspension is indefinite, and it won’t help their depth although he only played about nine minutes a game in the early going.
Tonight’s Menu
The final night of the ACC/Big Ten Challenge has a lot of other good games to watch as well, including action in the Mountain West/Missouri Valley Challenge.
- MAAC favorite Rider heads south for a test at West Virginia (6:30 p.m.)
- Action in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge starts with Syracuse going to Ohio State (7 p.m.) and Maryland hosting Virginia and Rutgers going to Miami (7:15 p.m.), then continues later with Purdue visiting Florida State and Georgia Tech at Northwestern (9:15 p.m.), with Michigan hosting North Carolina in the last game to tip (9:30 p.m.)
- There’s a nice mid-major matchup in Lewisburg, where Northeastern travels to take on Bucknell (7 p.m.)
- Old Dominion hosts arch-rival VCU (7 p.m.)
- In the Mountain West/Missouri Valley Challenge, Evansville hosts Wyoming (7 p.m.), Utah State hosts Northern Iowa (9 p.m.), Air Force hosts Missouri State (9:15 p.m.), Indiana State travels to San Jose State (10 p.m.) and Valparaiso visits UNLV (10:30 p.m.)
- A game that would have been part of the MWC/MVC Challenge is Brigham Young visiting Illinois State, which takes place at 8 p.m.
- A nice late matchup to watch is Saint Mary’s hosting Big West favorite UC Irvine (10 p.m.)
