Illini to Play at Duke in 2020 ACC/Big Ten Challenge
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- Illinois will make its first trip to Cameron Indoor Stadium in 15 years.
The news was first reported ccording Thursday via unnamed sources released on social media from CBS Sports analyst Jon Rothstein. The news was released officially by both conference and all the individual schools on Friday.
According to Rothstein, who released all 14 ACC/Big Ten Challenge matchups on his Twitter feed Thursday afternoon, Illinois will play at Duke in what would likely be a matchup of two teams ranked in the top 15 of every preseason poll for this upcoming 2020-21 season.
Duke, which loses its top three scorers from last season to the NBA draft (Vernon Carey Jr., Tre Jones and Cassius Stanley) all declaring for the NBA draft.
Mike Krzyzewski’s program does reload with five-star prospects DJ Steward, Jalen Johnson, Jeremy Roach and Mark Williams to join forwards Matthew Hurt and Wendell Moore Jr., to what CBS Sports analyst Gary Parrish considers the preseason No. 8 team in the nation. Parrish has the Illini, which obviously returned leading scorers Ayo Dosunmu and Kofi Cockburn, as the No. 6 in his rankings.
The last meeting between the two schools was on Dec. 2, 1995 when an unranked Illinois squad snapped Duke’s 95-game non-conference winning streak at home with a 76-65 victory. The two schools have played seven times but the most recent being 2007 when Duke defeated Illinois 79-66 in the Maui Invitational semifinal. In the history of the seven matchups, where Duke holds a 5-2 advantage, the Blue Devils have never visited Assembly Hall/State Farm Center in Champaign.
As of today, Illinois has declined to release its non-conference schedule for the upcoming season but has announced its return game in the home-and-home contract with Arizona is being pushed back a year due to unknowns in scheduling because of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
Here are the other 13 ACC/Big Ten Challenge matchups:
- North Carolina at Iowa
- Louisville at Wisconsin
- Indiana at Florida State
- Ohio State at Notre Dame
- Syracuse at Rutgers
- North Carolina State at Michigan
- Purdue at Miami
- Penn State at Virginia Tech
- Georgia Tech at Nebraska
- Pittsburgh at Northwestern
- Maryland at Clemson
- Boston College at Minnesota