Louisville will host Michigan State in ACC-Big 10 Challenge

Louisville will host Michigan State on Tuesday, Nov. 27 as part of the 2018 ACC-Big 10 Challenge, the league announced on Friday.

The full list of matchups for the 2018 version of the annual event are below:

The ACC took home the Commissioner’s Cup in the last two Challenges, with 11 wins in 2017 and nine wins in 2016. The Big Ten won eight of the 14 matchups in 2014 and 2015, while 2012 and 2013 were both ties. Since its inception, the ACC has won 12 Challenges, while the Big Ten has won five.

Louisville is 2-2 all-time in the event, defeating Purdue and Ohio State at home while dropping road games to the Boilermakers last season and to Michigan State in 2015.

The Spartans are likely to begin the 2018-19 season as a top 15 team. They lose All-American Miles Bridges and likely top five draft pick Jaren Jackson Jr., but return talented power forward Nick Ward as well as second leading scorer (and Teddy Bridgewater lookalike) Cassius Winston.

U of L’s non-conference schedule continues to set up in a way that is going to have Chris Mack thrown into the fire immediately. Just before this game, the Cards will play two contests against some combination of the powerful trio of Kansas, Tennessee and Marquette in New York for the preseason NIT (Nov. 21 and 23). They will also play at both Indiana and Seton Hall, and will host Kentucky.

If nothing else, there’s going to be no shortage of excitement during the first month and a half of the season.