UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.-- The Penn State men's basketball team will take on North Carolina State in the 19th annual Big Ten/ACC Challenge, ESPN announced Thursday. The Nittany Lions will play the Wolfpack in PNC Arena. The date of the game, tip time and TV designation will be released later this summer.
Penn State and NC State will be meeting in the Challenge for the second time, with the Wolfpack posting an 84-76 win in Raleigh in the 2000 Challenge. NC State leads the all-time series, 16-3, with the last meeting coming in the 2012 Puerto Rico Tip-Off Tournament.
Directed by head coach Patrick Chambers, Penn State has won three consecutive and seven of its last 10 Big Ten/ACC Challenge games. Last year, the Nittany Lions defeated Georgia Tech, 67-60, in the Bryce Jordan Center, giving Penn State wins over Virginia Tech, Boston College and the Yellow Jackets during the past three seasons. The Nittany Lions hold an 8-8 record in 16 Challenge appearances.
During the 2016-17 season, the Nittany Lions faced three ACC squads, also playing Duke in Tip-Off Tournament, hosted by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, and Pittsburgh in the inaugural Never Forget Tribute Classic, in addition to Georgia Tech.
In 2016, the ACC won its first outright Challenge since 2008. The Big Ten had captured the Commissioner's Cup for seven consecutive years prior to last season.
ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU will combine to televise all 14 games of the event matching top college basketball programs playing for conference supremacy and the Commissioner's Cup. All 14 games also will be available via WatchESPN.