The Michigan Wolverines look to stay unbeaten as they face a hungry North Carolina Tar Heels team in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge on Wednesday.
The ACC/Big Ten Challenge opened up this week with some exciting results, but the finale of the annual clash of the conferences should be among the best games of the week. On Wednesday night, the 11th-ranked North Carolina Tar Heels head to Ann Arbor for a matchup with the undefeated and seventh-ranked Michigan Wolverines.
North Carolina is near-fresh off of their first loss of the season, falling to Texas on Thanksgiving Day in Las Vegas. The Tar Heels bounced back from that by beating UCLA and now have to feel confident. Sure, they’ve seen less than ideal results early in the year from Luke Maye, but they have started to find more of an identity elsewhere.
The freshman duo of Nassir Little and Coby White looks to give the Tar Heels two viable stars. And though Kenny Williams has been up-and-down, particularly offensively, with Cam Johnson in the fold, UNC appears to be on the right track. And this test on the road against a talented Wolverines team is a good step to helping them keep on that road to success.
Entering the year, the question about Michigan was whether or not they could contend with some key player losses. Through their 6-0 start to the 2018-19 season, John Beilein’s team has answered that question with no doubt. They are going to be a factor once again after making the title game one year ago.
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The likes of Charles Matthews and Ignas Brazdeikis have stepped up in a big way to lead the Wolverines to this point. What’s more, they’ve seen a solid cast around them with the likes of Zavier Simpson, Jordan Poole and Jon Teske step up and contribute as well. They may not have a star at this point, but they’re a fantastic group as a whole that can compete with and take down almost anyone in the country.
Game Info
Date: Wednesday, Nov. 28, 2018
Start Time: 9:30 p.m. ET
Location: Ann Arbor, MI
Arena: Crisler Center
TV Info: ESPN
Live Stream: WatchESPN
This rematch of the 1993 National Championship Game should certainly bring a solid close to the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. Michigan has been on a great early-season run, but North Carolina is hungry after an upset loss to Texas over the Thanksgiving weekend. As such, we should see some more jockeying for positioning in the rankings in a hard-fought matchup.