Tar Heels to Host Michigan in 2021 ACC / Big Ten Challenge

The Wolverines will come to the Smith Center on December 1.

Author:
Isaac Schade
Jun 29, 2021 8:00 AM EDT

Pairings for the 2021 ACC / Big Ten Challenge were released on Monday. North Carolina will host Michigan on Wednesday, December 1.

Since the event’s inception in the 1999 season, the ACC leads the series 12-7-3 and is 138-113 overall. The Tar Heels are 10-12 all-time and have lost three years in a row and four of the last five.

The Big Ten has 14 teams to the ACC’s 15, so one ACC team sits out each year. Boston College is the odd-man-out this season. The Tar Heels have competed in each of the 22 years.

Here are Carolina's year-by-year ACC / Big Ten Challenge results:

Curiously, the event schedule has pitted the Tar Heels and Wolverines against each other in three of the past five years.

No. 13 Carolina beat unranked Michigan 86-71 in Chapel Hill in 2017. The No. 7 Wolverines returned the favor the next season in Ann Arbor, knocking off the No. 11 Tar Heels 84-67.

Historically, the ACC won the first 10 years of the challenge, but are 2-7-3 since. The Big Ten won each of the past two years. The most lopsided victory was in 2017 when the ACC won 11 of the 14 contests.

Two of the challenge games were canceled in 2020 due to COVID-19: NC State at Michigan and No. 18 Virginia at No. 4 Michigan State. The latter cancelation was especially disappointing since the matchup would have pitted the Hauser brothers (Joey – Michigan State and Sam – Virginia) against each other.

All games will be televised on the ESPN family of networks, but specific stations and times are yet to be announced.