Wake Forest Athletics
Wake Forest Part of Inaugural Big Ten/ACC Challenge
5/14/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
May 14, 2007
GREENSBORO, N.C. - The Atlantic Coast Conference and the Big Ten announced the formation of an annual Big Ten/ACC Challenge for women's basketball, which will span at least four years and will begin this fall. Wake Forest will play Northwestern on Nov. 28 in one of 11 games scheduled between Nov. 19 and Dec. 2.
The inaugural Big Ten/ACC Challenge will feature games outside the traditional timeframe, which will typically come on the first Wednesday, Thursday and Friday after Thanksgiving, following the men's basketball Big Ten/ACC Challenge.
Michigan will travel to Miami on Nov. 19 to open the Big Ten/ACC Challenge. The Big Ten will then host the next two games on Nov. 28 as Georgia Tech travels to Iowa and Wake Forest travels to Northwestern. Three games are scheduled for Nov. 29, with Michigan State hosting Clemson, Purdue traveling to North Carolina and Illinois heading to NC State. ACC teams will host three of the four Nov. 30 games when Maryland hosts Ohio State, Virginia Tech hosts Minnesota and Wisconsin travels to Virginia. In addition, Indiana will serve as host to Florida State on Nov. 30. The 2007 Big Ten/ACC Challenge concludes on Dec. 2 with Penn State hosting Duke.
Game times, as well as television coverage, will be announced at a later date.
Wake Forest and Northwestern will meet for the first time since the 1993-94 season and have only met twice in program history. The Wildcats won both meetings at home - winning 79-54 in the 1986-87 season and 89-73 in the teams' last meeting.
The Wildcats went 8-22 overall and 2-14 in the Big Ten last season, while the Demon Deacons compiled a 9-20 overall record and went 0-14 in the ACC. Head coach Mike Petersen begins his fourth year with the Deacs and returns all 10 letterwinners.
The two conferences, which have been familiar names in women's basketball, have squared off in head-to-head competition on 57 occasions since 1999-00 season, with the ACC holding a slight 29-28 advantage.
2007 Big Ten/ACC Challenge Schedule
November 19
Michigan at Miami
November 28
Wake Forest at Northwestern
Georgia Tech at Iowa
November 29
Clemson at Michigan State
Purdue at North Carolina
Illinois at NC State
November 30
Ohio State at Maryland
Minnesota at Virginia Tech
Florida State at Indiana
Wisconsin at Virginia
December 2
Duke at Penn State
