In a matchup of 2012 NCAA Tournament participants, the Wisconsin men’s basketball team will play host to Virginia in the 14th-annual ACC/Big Ten Challenge presented by Dick’s Sporting Goods, it was announced Monday.
The Badgers and Cavaliers will play the second night of competition on Wednesday, Nov. 28. Game time and television network are still to be determined. This season’s matchup will be the third all-time with each school recording a win. Virginia captured the first meeting in 1974, while the Badgers prevailed in 1998. Both of those games came on neutral floors. Wisconsin is 6-7 all-time in the Challenge, though the Badgers do sport a 4-1 mark at the Kohl Center. Last season, UW saw its three-game winning streak in the Challenge snapped following a 60-57 loss at No. 5 North Carolina. The six victories for Wisconsin are tied for the most among Big Ten teams along with Illinois, Michigan State, Northwestern and Ohio State. The Badgers’ winning percentage (. 462) is tied for third behind Ohio State (.545) and Michigan State (.500). The Badgers are coming off back-to-back Sweet 16 appearances for the first time in program history. Wisconsin finished the 2011-12 season with a 26-10 record, the third-most wins in school history, after a 64-63 loss to Syracuse. Virginia, which is 7-5 overall in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge and 1-3 on the road, is coming off its first NCAA tournament appearance since the 2006-07 season. Led by former UW assistant Tony Bennett, the Cavaliers finished 22-10 overall after suffering a 71-45 loss to Florida in the second round of the tournament.
