Wolverines to host Michigan's Devon Daniels, N.C. State in ACC/Big Ten Challenge

With under a month to go before the 2020-21 season tips off, Michigan finally has a game set on the schedule.

The Wolverines will host N.C. State on Dec. 9 in this year's ACC/Big Ten Challenge, it was announced Friday.

This will be the fifth meeting between the two programs in the Challenge, with Michigan holding a 3-1 advantage and all games being decided by seven points. The Wolverines split the first two encounters — a 68-61 home win in 2003 and 74-67 road loss in 2006 — before topping the Wolfpack, 79-72, in 2012 at Crisler Center and pulling out a 66-59 victory in 2015 at PNC Arena in Raleigh, N.C.

The matchup will be a homecoming of sorts for N.C. State fifth-year senior guard Devon Daniels, a Battle Creek native who played two seasons at Kalamazoo Central before spending his senior year at Prolific Prep in California.

Daniels (12.7 points) is one of two returning players who averaged double figures in scoring, along with fifth-year senior forward D.J. Funderburk (12.8 points). The Wolfpack also return five players who started at least 15 games from a team that finished 20-12 and went 10-10 in ACC play last year.

More: Five-star Caleb Houstan, No. 8 in 2021 class, commits to Michigan

The game will take place on the second day of the two-day event. Start times and TV designations will be announced at a later date. All 14 games in the Challenge will be televised on ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPNU.

Michigan is 8-11 in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge and lost last year at then-No. 1 Louisville, 58-43.

The contest is the first piece to fall in place for the Wolverines, who haven't announced any other games despite season starting on Nov. 25. They've already pulled out of the Empire Classic and postponed their London matchup against Kentucky until December 2022 due to concerns amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It's easy, for me especially, to forget that we play in less than a month,” freshman center Hunter Dickinson said this week. “When you think about it, we play in less than 30 days. It's easy to forget that we're in this now, we're in the fire and we've got to start getting prepared for an opponent.

“The thing is we don't even know who our first opponent is, we don't even know our schedule so it's easy to forget that we're actually in a season. Right now, we're just worried about trying to get better and every day get that chemistry because we have so many new pieces. The season, I can't wait for it. I'm really excited to go out there and showcase what we've been working on for part of this summer and this fall.”

ACC/Big Ten Challenge

Tuesday, Dec. 8

North Carolina at Iowa

Illinois at Duke

Syracuse at Rutgers

Ohio State at Notre Dame

Purdue at Miami

Boston College at Minnesota

Penn State at Virginia Tech

Wednesday, Dec. 9

Michigan State at Virginia

N.C. State at Michigan

Louisville at Wisconsin

Indiana at Florida State

Maryland at Clemson

Georgia Tech at Nebraska

Pitt at Northwestern

jhawkins@detroitnews.com

Twitter: @jamesbhawkins