clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Tuesday In The ACC/Big Ten Challenge: That Wasn’t Much Fun

We didn’t expect it to go too well this year but a couple of near misses really hurts

By JD King
/ new
COLLEGE BASKETBALL: NOV 30 Indiana at Syracuse
SYRACUSE, NY - NOVEMBER 30: Syracuse Orange Guard Buddy Boeheim (35) dribbles the ball against Indiana Hoosiers Guard Parker Stewart (45) defending during the first half of the College Basketball game between the Indiana Hoosiers and Syracuse Orange on November 30, 2021, at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse, NY.
Photo by Gregory Fisher/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

In ACC/Big Ten Challenge action, Florida State got hammered by Purdue 93-65, Syracuse escaped Indiana 112-110, Minnesota slipped by Pitt 54-53 on a last-second shot, Wake Forest beat Chris Collins’ Northwestern team 77-73 in overtime and Rutgers knocked off Clemson 74-64.

At this point, Purdue is the best team we’ve seen. They really took it to Florida State. We weren't overly impressed with Zach Edey, other than his massive size, but Trevion Williams blew us away, particularly as a passer. He was something else.

We were also really impressed with FSU’s Jalen Warley. He’s going to be good.

Syracuse tried to blow the Indiana game but apparently just weren't committed enough to get the job done. They fouled Khristian Lander up three with 2.6 left to put him on the lane and thus avoid the three but then let IU get the rebound and hit two more.

We didn't see the end but for whatever reason, Lander fouled Girard with 0:01 left.

Girard is shooting 92.9 percent so far. Needless to say, he administered the coup-de-grace.

All Pitt had to do was stop Minnesota once at the end. Just remember to block out.

Didn’t happen as Minnesota’s Luke Loewe rushed in to tip in a miss with mere seconds to go. Too bad because Pitt had earned the win before letting it slip away.

That Jake LaRavia is really paying off for Wake Forest. The former Indiana State Sycamore is averaging 14.7 and had 21 against Northwestern, including the go-ahead shot with five seconds and then stole the ball on the next possession and got two more foul shots to wrap things up.

Wake got there despite only getting three offensive rebounds and we think they were all late in the game.

Clemson competed for about 30 minutes before Rutgers started to pull away. Ron Harper, Jr., son of the former Chicago Bull, finished with 23 points and nine boards. David Collins, a transfer from South Florida, had 18 points and 10 boards, which is impressive for a 6-4 guard.

Challenge play concludes Wednesday as Louisville heads to East Lansing for a whipping, Nebraska and NC State tangle in Raleigh, Virginia Tech goes over to Maryland, Big Wisconsin goes down to Atlanta to take on the smaller, hopefully quicker Yellow Jackets, Miami jets up to Penn State and UNC welcomes Michigan to Chapel Hill. If you don’t think Juwan Howard wants this one after Chris Webber’s disastrous time out in 1993, think again. He’s going to try to kill the Heels and may do it.

Our best guesses for Wednesday are below.

  • Louisville @ Michigan State || 7:15 || ESPN
  • Nebraska @ NC State || 7:15 || ESPNU
  • Virginia Tech @ Maryland || 7:15 || ESPN2
  • Wisconsin @ Georga Tech || 9:15 || ESPN2
  • Michigan @ UNC || 9:15 || ESPN
  • Miami @ Penn State || 9:15 || ESPNU

More From Duke Basketball Report

Loading comments...