On Thursday morning, the ACC announced the matchups for the 2017 installment of the ACC/Big Ten challenge. In that announcement it was revealed that the Miami Hurricanes will be playing the Minnesota Golden Gophers for this interconference event.

Miami will travel on the road to take on Richard Pitino’s (son of Louisville coach Rick) Gophers in Minneapolis. This is a major upgrade to the schedule, as Miami has played some very lowly regarded Big Ten teams in this event previously.

As I said, this is a marquee game, even if the names of the teams involved aren’t the traditional blue blood college hoops programs. Both Miami and Minnesota are coming off 20 win seasons and NCAA tournament appearances. This will be a chance for the winning team in this game to add a top 50 win to their record, and increase their strength of schedule.

Here’s more on this from UM athletics:

CORAL GABLES, Fla. – The University of Miami men's basketball team will face the University of Minnesota as part of the 19th annual Big Ten-ACC Challenge, a 14-team event to be played on campus sites in late November.

The event – in which each conference hosts seven games – matches all 14 Big Ten teams against all but one ACC member. Network assignments and tip times will be announced at a later date.

The Hurricanes are 1-1 against Minnesota, including an 0-1 record under the guidance of Coach Jim Larrañaga. This will be the first matchup between the two squads at Williams Arena. Miami last defeated the Golden Gophers on Dec. 2, 2009, when Miami earned its first victory in the Big Ten-ACC Challenge, 73-68.

Riding a three game winning-streak, Miami is 5-5 overall in the Big Ten-ACC Challenge, with a 1-4 mark on the road and a 4-1 record at home. The Canes have defeated a pair of ranked teams during Larrañaga's tenure, downing No. 13 Michigan State, 67-59, in 2012 and No. 24 Illinois, 70-61, in 2013.

Miami in the Big Ten-ACC Challenge
2005 (ACC won 6-5): Michigan d. Miami, 74-53
2006 (ACC 8-3): Northwestern d. Miami, 61-59
2007 (ACC 8-3): DNP
2008 (ACC 6-5): Ohio State d. #21 Miami, 73-68
2009 (Big Ten 6-5): Miami d. Minnesota, 63-58
2010 (Big Ten 6-5): DNP
2011 (Big Ten 8-4): Purdue d. Miami, 76-65
2012 (Tied 6-6): Miami d. #13 Michigan State, 67-59
2013 (Tied 6-6): Nebraska d. Miami, 60-49
2014 (Big Ten 8-6): #15 Miami d. #24 Illinois, 70-61
2015 (Big Ten 8-6): #21 Miami d. Nebraska, 77-72
2016 (ACC 9-5): Miami d. Rutgers, 73-61

ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU will combine to televise all 14 games of the event, matching top college basketball programs playing for conference supremacy and the Commissioner's Cup. All games will also be available to stream via the ESPN app.

Adding this game to Miami’s already announced Non-conference schedule is big for the Canes.

Now, it’s time to go up to Minnesota and get a very big W against a good team.

More on Hoops in the coming days and weeks.

Go Canes