Pitt will host Minnesota in the 2021 ACC/Big Ten Challenge, the conferences and ESPN announced on Monday.
The Panthers and Golden Gophers will meet at Petersen Events Center on Tuesday, Nov. 30. The tip time and television network will be announced at a later dat, though all 14 games of the challenge will be broadcast on the ESPN family of networks.
It’s the first time the schools have met in the challenge, and only the fourth time overall. Pitt is 2-1 all-time against the Gophers, winning at Minnesota in 1932, in Pittsburgh in 1933 and losing in Minneapolis in 1950. The 1950 loss was the start of an eight-game losing streak, still tied for the sixth-worst in program history.
Minnesota will be led by first-year head coach Ben Johnson after the firing of Richard Pitino following a 14-15 season in 2020-21.
The Panthers are 4-3 in the event since joining the ACC in 2013. Pitt defeated Northwestern, 71-70 on the road in 2020, as the Big Ten won, 7-5, with two games postponed due to COVID-19 protocols.
Pitt beat Rutgers in 2019 and at to Iowa in 2018, and Jeff Capel’s record as Pitt head coach in the challenge stands at 2-1. Pitt did not participate in 2017 and won at Maryland in 2016 under Kevin Stallings. Jamie Dixon led Pitt to a 1-2 record, losing to Purdue in 2015 and at Indiana in 2014 while beating Penn State in 2013.
Minnesota will make the eighth Big Ten team Pitt has played in the challenge. The Panthers have not faced Illinois, Michigan, Michigan State, Nebraska, Ohio State or Wisconsin.
The rest of the event lines up as follows:
Monday, November 29
Iowa at Virginia
Notre Dame at Illinois
Tuesday, November 30
Clemson at Rutgers
Duke at Ohio State
Florida State at Purdue
Indiana at Syracuse
Northwestern at Wake Forest
Wednesday, December 1
Wisconsin at Georgia Tech
Louisville at Michigan State
Miami at Penn State
Michigan at North Carolina
Nebraska at NC State
Virginia Tech at Maryland
Boston College will not participate in the 2021 event. The ACC has 15 teams, while the Big Ten has 14.
Capel and Pitt will get trounced in this game just like they do during their ACC schedule every year and whenever they play programs not named Lehigh, Eastern Utah, and Highpoint. Come on, isn’t everyone figuring Capel out by now? Capel = Loser.