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Pitt to face Indiana in ACC-Big Ten Challenge

Pitt will face the Indiana Hoosiers in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge.

By JimHammett
Pat Lovell-USA TODAY Sports

The ACC-Big Ten challenge pairings were released today, and Pitt learned who their opponent will be. Pitt will travel to Bloomington, Indiana on December 2, 2014 to face Tom Crean and the Indiana Hoosiers. Pitt will look to go 2-0 all-time in the challenge, after defeating Penn State last year.  Pitt and Indiana have squared off eight times in history with a 4-4 split between the schools. The last meeting took place in December of 2009, a 74-64 Indiana victory in the Jimmy V Classic at Madison Square Garden.

Tom Crean and Jamie Dixon have coached against each other head to head eight times dating back to Crean's Marquette tenure, with Crean holding a slight 5-3 advantage. If you recall way back when, Crean was the coach for Marquette's great run with Dwayne Wade, and defeated the Ben Howland led Panthers in the 2003 Sweet Sixteen.

Indiana is one of the most illustrious programs in college basketball history with five national championships. They have fallen on hard times in recent history, but Tom Crean was able to guide the Hoosiers to back to back Sweet Sixteen appearances in 2012 and 2013, but they failed to make any postseason tournament last year. The Hoosiers return a solid nucleus including their leading scorer, point guard Yogi Ferrell. Indiana welcomes a well regarded recruiting class, and they should be a better team in 2015.

Pitt did not play a true non-conference road game last season, but playing in Assembly Hall should help matters. The old barn has been home to some great moments in its history, and should provide a good test for the Panthers. The non-conference schedule is starting to take shape.

  • Maui Invitional. Pitt will play three games among (Arizona, BYU, Chaminade, Kansas State, Mizzou, Purdue, and San Diego State)
  • Manhattan.
  • Indiana. ACC-Big Ten Challenge
Typically, college basketball plays a 31 game regular season schedule. Pitt will play 18 ACC games and those six games that we know of. There has been rumors of Pitt playing a stopover game against a California school or the University of Hawaii on their way to Maui. Pitt often tries to play to play game in the New York City area as well. It will be interesting to see how Dixon fills out the schedule, but either way it appears to be an upgrade over last season already.

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