Ohio State will play at Louisville in the 16th annual Big Ten/ACC Challenge, ESPN announced Thursday. The game is scheduled for Dec. 2 at the KFC Yum! Center in early December.
Thad Matta is 6-4 in the Challenge, winning five of his past six games. The lone loss came in a 73-68 thriller at Duke during the 2012-13 season. Ohio State has appeared in the Challenge 13 times and fashions a 7-6 record. The Buckeyes are 2-3 on the road.
| 2014 Big Ten/ACC Challenge | |
|---|---|
| Dec. 1 | Nebraska at Florida State |
| Rutgers at Clemson | |
| Dec. 2 | Syracuse at Michigan |
| Ohio State at Louisville | |
| Pitt at Indiana | |
| N.C. State at Purdue | |
| Illinois at Miami | |
| Minnesota at Wake Forest | |
| Dec. 3 | Duke at Wisconsin |
| Michigan State at Notre Dame | |
| Iowa at North Carolina | |
| Virginia at Maryland | |
| Georgia Tech at Northwestern | |
| Virginia Tech at Penn State | |
Ohio State is 4-3 all-time against the Cardinals. Louisville won the last meeting 72-64 in overtime at Value City Arena on Jan. 4, 2003, a day after the Buckeyes defeated Miami in the Fiesta Bowl to win the national championship. The Louisville game was the second in a home-and-home. The Cardinals won both games.
Louisville, which is entering its first season in the ACC, finished 31-6 last year as members of the American Athletic Conference and were eliminated from the NCAA Tournament in the Sweet 16 by archrival Kentucky. Ohio State was 25-10 and replaces three starters from last year's team — Aaron Craft, Lenzelle Smith Jr. and LaQuinton Ross. The lineup was bolstered by the transfer of Temple power forward Anthony Lee.
Ohio State defeated Maryland 76-60 last season in Columbus in the Terrapins’ final season in the ACC.
The ACC and Big Ten split the 2013 Challenge for the second consecutive year. The ACC won the first 10 Challenges and holds an all-time record of 10-3-2. But the Big Ten is 3-0-2 the past five seasons.
Two other non-conference games are known at this point: a home game versus Marquette and neutral-site game with North Carolina at the United Center the weekend before Christmas. The Big Ten/ACC Challenge gives Ohio State three games against quality opponents.
