The 15th annual Big Ten/ACC Challenge Presented by DICK’S Sporting Goods on Dec. 3-4 will be highlighted by eight teams in the ESPN.com early preseason top 25, including six of the top 11 teams: No. 3 Michigan State, No. 5 Duke, No. 6 Ohio State, No. 8 Syracuse, No. 9 Michigan, No. 11 North Carolina, No. 20 Indiana and No. 25 Iowa. Three of the games will pit ranked teams against each other: No. 9 Michigan at No. 5 Duke, No. 11 North Carolina at No. 3 Michigan State and No. 20 Indiana at No. 8 Syracuse.

Duke is 21-8 all-time against Michigan, including victories in the 2011 NCAA Championship and 2011 EA Sports Maui Invitational. North Carolina, with an 11-3 overall record against Michigan State, won games in 2008 and 2009. Michigan State won in 1999 and 2000. Northwestern and NC State will square off in the Challenge for the third time. Northwestern won in 2009 and NC State in 2002.

Following last year’s 6-6 tie, the ACC now holds a 10-3-1 advantage in Challenge play. In the event of a tie, the Commissioner’s Cup remains with the conference that won the previous year, which was the Big Ten in 2011. The ACC won the first 10 Challenges (1999-2008) while the Big Ten won the next three (2009-2011).

ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU will combine to televise all 12 games of the two-day event matching top college basketball programs playing for conference supremacy and the Commissioners Cup. All 12 games will also be available via WatchESPN.

All 12 Big Ten teams and 12 of the 15 ACC teams will participate in the 2013 Challenge, including Notre Dame, Pittsburgh and Syracuse, who will join the league on July 1, 2013.

Tuesday, December 3
Indiana at Syracuse
Michigan at Duke
Notre Dame at Iowa
Florida State at Minnesota
Penn State at Pitt
Illinois at Georgia Tech

Wednesday, December 4
North Carolina at Michigan State
Maryland at Ohio State
Miami at Nebraska
Wisconsin at Virginia
Boston College at Purdue
Northwestern at NC State