May 12, 2010
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.; May 12, 2010 - Penn State will take on defending ACC regular season co-champion Maryland on Wednesday, Dec. 1 at the Bryce Jordan Center as part of the 12th Annual ACC/Big Ten Challenge. Game time and ESPN platform designation on ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU and ESPN3.com will be announced later this summer.
The Nittany Lions set a Big Ten record last year becoming the first conference team to win its Challenge game in three consecutive seasons with a 69-66 victory at Virginia. Penn State is 4-5 in nine previous Challenge appearances having won at Georgia Tech (85-83) and vs. Virginia Tech (66-61) in the Jordan Center during its current three-game win streak. The Nittany Lions' four Challenge wins equals Minnesota and Wisconsin for the second-most in the Big Ten.
The Big Ten won its first-ever Challenge last year taking a 6-5 edge in the 11-game contest. Seven of the contests in 2009 were decided by seven points or less. The Challenge has been decided by one game in six of the 11 seasons it has been played.
Other match-ups for the 2010 ACC/Big Ten Challenge include a Monday, Nov. 29 match-up of Virginia at Minnesota to tipoff the event. On Tuesday, Nov. 30 games will include: Iowa at Wake Forest, Michigan at Clemson, Ohio State at Florida State, North Carolina at Illinois and Georgia Tech at Northwestern. The final day of the event will be Wednesday, Dec. 1 with games including: Indiana at Boston College, Purdue at Virginia Tech, Michigan State at Duke, North Carolina State at Wisconsin and Maryland at Penn State. Miami (Fla.), the 12th place finisher in the ACC last year, will sit out the event in 2010.
Six of the telecasts will feature first-ever Challenge matchups: Purdue at Virginia Tech, Michigan at Clemson, Georgia Tech at Northwestern, North Carolina State at Wisconsin, Indiana at Boston College and Maryland at Penn State.
Penn State and Maryland have met 16 times on the hardwood having split the contests, 8-8. The Nittany Lions hold a 6-0 mark vs. the Terrapins in State College, but the schools haven't met since an 80-78 Penn State victory in Rec Hall in the second round of the 1990 NIT. Penn State went on to finish third in that tournament. The teams first met in 1938 with the Lions taking a 42-28 victory in Rec Hall.
Maryland posted a 24-9 record last year and went 13-3 in the ACC to tie eventual national champion Duke for the conference's regular season title. The Terrapins were a No. 4 seed in the NCAA tournament and advanced to the second round before falling 85-83 to eventual Final Four participant Michigan State. Head coach Gary Williams was named the 2010 ACC Coach of the Year. Williams, who will be entering his 22nd season at Maryland and is the school's all-time winningest coach, has led the Terrapins to seven NCAA "Sweet Sixteen" appearances, two NCAA Final Fours and the 2002 NCAA title.
The Terrapins, who led the ACC scoring 79.7 ppg last year, return two starters, eight lettermen and five of their top eight scorers from last season including leading rebounders Jordan Williams (8.6 rpg) and Sean Mosley (5.1 rpg). The 6-10, 260-pound Williams was the second leading rebounder in the ACC and posted 10.1 ppg last year while blocking 32 shots. Mosley, a 6-4 guard, averaged 9.6 ppg and was third on the team with 84 assists.
Penn State will return four senior starters led by All-Big Ten point-guard Talor Battle for the Nittany Lions' eighth season under head coach Ed DeChellis. Battle, who finished second in the Big Ten scoring 18.5 ppg last season, leads a group of five of Penn State's top six scorers from last season that return accounting for 75 percent of the Lions' scoring and 67 percent of the rebounding. Battle will join senior forwards David Jackson (9.5 ppg), Jeff Brooks (7.4 ppg) and Andrew Jones (6.0 ppg) to form the most senior laden roster in the DeChellis era.
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