This year’s Big Ten/ACC Challenge in men’s basketball has the Golden Gophers hosting the Clemson Tigers on Nov. 30 at Williams Arena, ESPN announced Wednesday.
The two power conferences combined to produce three of this past season’s Final Four teams: Duke, Michigan State and Wisconsin.
Per the Gophers, Minnesota and Clemson have played seven times in the past, most recently a 90-68 Clemson win in 2006. Four of the seven games were vacated due to academic scandal under former Gophers head coach Clem Haskins, but that doesn’t make the 1996-97 Sweet 16 game between the two schools any less memorable.
Minnesota, a No. 1 seed in the tournament, needed two overtimes to advance to the Elite 8 with a 90-84 victory. Bobby Jackson scored 36 points in the game. Fast forward to the 32.25 mark of the video below to get the recap of that instant classic.
Clemson, like the Gophers last season, did not participate in any postseason tournaments.
