Wisconsin men’s basketball set to play Georgia Tech in Big Ten/ACC Challenge

Another piece of the Wisconsin Badgers men’s basketball non-conference schedule puzzle can be placed on the table. According to college basketball insider Jon Rothstein, and now confirmed by the Big Ten, the Badgers will be traveling to Atlanta on Wednesday, Dec. 1 to take on the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets in this year’s Big Ten/ACC Challenge.

You may remember that Georgia Tech (17-9 overall, 11-6 ACC) won the ACC Tournament last year, before losing to Loyola Chicago in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, led by ACC Player of the Year Moses Wright. Well, Wright is gone this year, as is sharp-shooting point guard Jose Alvarado, so Georgia Tech will look a bit different when they matchup with Wisconsin.

The Jackets top players this year should be wings Michael Devoe and Jordan Usher. Devoe made 40% of his threes last year on 145 attempts and Usher is a menace on defense, blocking shots and getting his long arms into passing lanes.

The Big Ten has won the last two Challenges but still trail the ACC overall with a 7-12-3 record all time. The Badgers had their contest with Louisville postponed two weeks, due to COVID, and then waxed the, admittedly still shorthanded, Cardinals 85-48 in Madison to give the Big Ten a 7-5 victory for 2020. Overall, the Badgers are 11-11 in the Challenge, but are 3-8 on the road.

The rest of the matchups for the 2021 Big Ten/ACC Challenge are as follows (if you can’t read the embedded tweet above):

Duke at Ohio State
Louisville at Michigan State
Florida State at Purdue
Indiana at Syracuse
Michigan at UNC
Nebraska at NC State
Iowa at Virginia
Notre Dame at Illinois
Clemson at Rutgers
Miami at Penn State
Minnesota at Pitt
Northwestern at Wake Forest
Virginia Tech at Maryland

All games will be televised on either ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPNU.