Miami and Penn State set for 2021 Big Ten/ACC Challenge

The Miami Hurricanes men’s basketball team is scheduled to play Penn State in the 2021 Big Ten/ACC Challenge, the team announced Monday.

Both teams will meet on Dec. 1 at Bryce Jordan Center in State College, Pennsylvania with a start time and network telecast still to be announced. Miami finished last season with a 10-17 overall record and was 4-15 in the Atlantic Coast Conference, though advanced to the quarterfinals of the ACC Tournament as the first No. 13-seeded team. Penn State reached the Big Ten Tournament’s second round yet was eliminated, posting an 11-14 overall mark having gone 7-12 in the Big Ten Conference.

Shocking Purdue 58-54 in last year’s Big Ten/ACC matchup, Miami erased a 17-point second half deficit after scoring only 14 points in the first half at the Watsco Center. Redshirt senior guard Kameron McGusty scored a game-high 18 points despite the team’s 1-for-17 shooting from 3-point territory.

Penn State, winners of three straight Big Ten/ACC Challenge games, defeated then-No. 15 Virginia Tech on the road last December, 75-55. Former Penn State guard Izaiah Brockington, now at Iowa State upon transferring, scored a career-high 24 points on 10-for-14 shooting with eight rebounds in the victory.

The Hurricanes, 8-6 all-time in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge, remain 0-4 against the Nittany Lions, an 11-9 team in Big Ten/ACC meetings, as both teams will duel for the first time since 1995.

Miami registered its most recent Big Ten/ACC Challenge road win at Illinois in 2019 and looks to earn a 4-4 road record in the annual showdown this winter.

Despite losing multiple key components of its 2021 roster — including star guard Chris Lykes and center Nysier Brooks — to the transfer portal, Miami welcomes a trio of four-star recruits in guards Nisine Poplar, Bensley Joseph, and Jakai Robinson.