It was bound to happen one of these years, and this ended up being the year that the Big 10 finally won one of these challenges. But it wasn't without help. There were occasions where the ACC team had a healthy lead, only to hack it up late. But you have to give credit to those Big Ten teams for not quitting and playing hard to the very end. Here's a recap of all of the matchups.
Penn State 69, Virginia 66
This was one of those games that I mention where the ACC team had a healthy lead. Virginia lead by eight late in the first half, only to allow Penn State's Talor Battle to catch fire and score a career high 32 points. Penn State also held a 10 point lead with less than 2:30 left, but they allowed Sammy Zeglinski to get hot and score 11 of his 16 points, and 11 of Virginia's last 13 points, all in that span.
It looked like it was going to be a Tony Bennett type ball game, as Virginia was able to control the tempo and take a 27-21 at halftime. But Penn State took control of the tempo in the second half by starting it on a 13-2 run over the first five minutes and gave the Nittany Lions a 34-29 lead. Penn State outscored Virginia 48-39 in the second half, and also used a 25-13 free throw edge in the game that helped propel Penn State to the victory, its third in a row in the Challenge.
Purdue 69, Wake Forest 58
This game was fairly competitive four about 30 minutes. Wake Forest held a six point lead early in the second half, but Purdue used a 14-1 run midway through the second half that ultimately sealed the fate of Wake Forest, who could not stop Robbie Hummel, JaJuan Johnson and E'Twaun Moore. The trio combined to score 54 of Purdue's 69 points.
Wake Forest shot better than Purdue, shooting 42% compared to Purdue's 34%, along with holding Purdue to 6% (1-15) three point shooting. But Wake turned it over 25 times compared to Purdue's nine, and were outshot at the free throw line 31-19, and only hit 52% compared to Purdue's 77%, and it turned what was a close game into an eventual Purdue 11 point victory.
Northwestern 65, NC State 53
I was quite surprised how this game turned out. I thought NC State would hold serve at home against a Northwestern team that lost their best player at the beginning of the season. Northwestern trailed 1-0 two minutes in to the game, and never trailed the rest of the game. NC State did cut the lead to four with less than six minutes left, but Northwestern ended the game on a 12-4 run that led to a 12 point road win for the Wildcats, who were led by Michael Thompson, who scored 22 points, and played all 40 minutes. Tracy Smith led NC State with 23 points.
The key stat of the game was NC State's inability to make shots, The Wolpack took seven more shots than Northwestern, but only hit on 34 percent, compared to 49 percent for Northwestern. Three point shooting was a big difference, as the Wildcats hit on 6-14 from three, while NC State was only 2-18 for a whopping 11 percent.
Maryland 80, Indiana 68
This game was actually pretty close, but Maryland outscored Indiana 26-14 over the final 8:40 of the game that broke open a 54-54 tie. It was a pretty balanced scoring effort for Maryland, as four players reached double figures, led by Greivis Vasquez, who had his usual solid all around stat line: 23 points, 5 rebounds, 8 assists. Although Vasquez was only 4-14 from the field, he did hit 13 out of 14 from the free throw line. Landon Milbourne pitched in 19 points for the Terps as well. Indiana was led by Maurice Creek with 19 points and 16 from Christian Watford.
Once again,shooting was a key factor in the game, as Maryland hit on 47 percent of their shots, compared to 33 percent for Indiana. Maryland also shot better from three point range, hitting on 5-12, while Indiana shot 7-26 from three point range, and it gave the ACC its first win of the Challenge.
Virginia Tech 70, Iowa 64
The question coming in to this season was whether Virginia Tech could get some scoring outside of Malcolm Delaney and Jeff Allen. For one night, it happened, as Victor Davila scored 10 points, along with Terrell Bell's 13 points to go along with Delaney's 18 and Allen's 10. The Hokies got off to a slow start in this game, as Iowa scored eight of the first nine points of the game, but Virginia Tech took the lead with 6:58 left in the first half, and excpept for a 26 second span in the second half, never relinquished it, growing it to as much as 10 before getting the six point victory. Anthony Tucker led Iowa with 24 points.
Virginia Tech played a very clean game, only turning the ball over five times, compared to 11 turnovers for Iowa, and only committing 12 personal fouls, with Malcolm Delaney the only player having more than two. In the end, the better team won, as Iowa dropped to 2-5, while Virginia Tech improved to 5-1.
North Carolina 89, Michigan State 82
This was the third matchup in a year between these two teams, and just like the other two, North Carolina emerged victorious, and once again, a big man was the key. Ed Davis scored 22 points and grabbed six rebounds, and hit on 8-10 shooting. Larry Drew pitched in with 18 points and six assists as well for the Heels, who led by double digits through most of the second half, but allowed Michigan State to get back to within six in the last minute of the game, but clutch free throw shooting from Drew iced the game in the end. Michigan State was led by Raymar Morgan with 18 points, and 16 from Durrell Summers.
Shooting again was a factor in the game, as North Carolina shot 57% from the floor, including 5-10 from three point range, compared to Michigan State, who shot 43% and only hit on 2-20 from three point range. Michigan State also committed 24 personal fouls, compared to 15 for North Carolina, and it led to a 30-16 free throw edge for the Heels as well.
Boston College 62, Michigan 58
This was a very impressive win for the Eagles against a pretty good Big Ten team. They were able to defend the three point shots well, as Michigan struggled all night to hit threes. Michigan shot 9-34 from three point range, and only shot 32% from the field for the game, while the Eagles hit 46% of their shots. Boston College also outrebounded Michigan 41-26 in the game.
Michigan was not able to stop Corey Raji, who led all scorers with 24 points, and Joe Trapani had another double-double (11 points, 12 rebounds), and a good all around game from Reggie Jackson,
