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Notre Dame Basketball: ACC-B1G Challenge Preview

By Mychal Hunter

CLEVELAND, OH - MARCH 26: Head coach Mike Brey of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish reacts after defeating the Wichita State Shockers during the Midwest Regional semifinal of the 2015 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Quicken Loans Arena on March 26, 2015 in Cleveland, Ohio. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)
CLEVELAND, OH - MARCH 26: Head coach Mike Brey of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish reacts after defeating the Wichita State Shockers during the Midwest Regional semifinal of the 2015 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Quicken Loans Arena on March 26, 2015 in Cleveland, Ohio. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images) /
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Notre Dame Basketball will host Illini on November 27th.

The 2018 ACC-B1G Challenge will be the 20th anniversary of the event’s inception. Notre Dame basketball, a relatively new member to the event, will be participating for the sixth time.

In the previous five contests, Notre Dame has put up a record of 3-2. In 2015-16, they traveled to Champaign and defeated the Illini 84-79. The other two teams the Irish have faced in the Challenge are Iowa (twice) and Michigan State (twice).

For whatever reason, the committee that puts this event together seems to have little interest in “mixing it up.” For instance, Georgia Tech actually played Illinois in back-to-back years in 2012 and 2013. Last year, Louisville and Purdue played for the second consecutive year. Shouldn’t this event provide us with opportunities to see match-ups we may not see otherwise? Maybe that is just me.

Illinois will travel to South Bend with an 8-11 record in the challenge, having participated in the event every year. It will be Brad Underwood’s second go around in the event after losing 80-73 last year in Winston Salem to Wake Forest.

Playing in South Bend this year will present a few distinct advantages for Mike Brey’s 2018 crew. First, the Irish have never lost a home game in the Challenge, as they are 2-0. Second, Illinois is 3-5 on the road in the challenge, and if you include neutral games, they are 3-8. Lastly, this Illini team is going to be very young, and young doesn’t typically travel well.

Illinois is not without talent though. Sophomore-to-be Trent Frazier is coming off of a very nice freshman campaign, averaging 12.5 points and 3 assists per game. Ayo Dosunmu, a 6’3 combo guard ranked in the top 30 of the 2018 class, is also a very good player.

The losses the program experienced, however, may prove to be too much to bear. Mark Smith (5.8, 1.4 and 1.4) and Mike Finke (9.8 ppg and 4.6 rpg) both transferred and Leron Black (15 and 5) chose to forgo his remaining eligibility and play for a paycheck.

The ACC leads the all-time series with the Big Ten at 12-5 to go along with a couple ties. The boys from the ACC real conference of champions have also won two in a row.

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As the Big Ten navigates its way through coaching changes at some of its landmark schools (Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin) the ACC has a real opportunity to continue its domination of the Challenge. Also, when you consider that schools like Rutgers, Iowa and Minnesota find themselves in what are probably going to be down years, the ACC looks poised to take the Big 10 boys out behind the woodshed in 2018.