Louisville to Visit Mackey Arena for Big Ten / ACC Challenge
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Another piece of the 2017-18 Purdue men’s basketball schedule was unveiled today by ESPN, as it was announced that Purdue will host Louisville for the 18th annual Big Ten / ACC Challenge.
The contest will played on either Nov. 27, 28 or 29, in Mackey Arena with date, time and television assignments announced at a later date. It will mark Purdue’s first home game in the Challenge since defeating North Carolina State 66-61 in the 2014 event.
Purdue’s known schedule now features games against Marquette, Louisville, Butler and three games in the Battle 4 Atlantis consisting of Arizona, Villanova, SMU, Tennessee, North Carolina State, Northern Iowa and Western Kentucky.
The Cardinals are ranked in everyone’s preseason top 10, despite seeing two of its top players off to the NBA Draft. Head coach Rick Pitino welcomes back Quentin Snider and V.J. King, as well as a strong frontcourt in Anas Mahmoud and Ray Spalding. Louisville finished last year with a 25-9 record and ranked No. 10 in the final AP poll.
The two teams played last year in the event, with Louisville defeating Purdue 71-64 in the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville.
Purdue leads the series with Louisville by a 11-6 margin, winning three of the last four meetings against the Cardinals. Louisville snapped Purdue’s seven-game Challenge win streak in last year’s contest.
Purdue owns a 9-7 all-time record in the Big Ten / ACC Challenge, leading the Big Ten in Challenge victories. Purdue’s seven-game win streak from 2009-15 marked the second-longest win streak in event history (Duke – 10 games; 1999-08).
Purdue is coming off a 27-8 season and its league-best 23rd Big Ten regular-season championship. Head coach Matt Painter will return six of its top seven scorers and welcome in a highly-regarded recruiting class.