Pitt to face Northwestern Dec. 9 in Big Ten Challenge

Pitt basketball made its first announcement of a scheduled game Friday morning for a December 9th matchup with Northwestern at Welsh-Ryan Arena in Evanston, Ill. as part of the annual ACC/Big Ten challenge. Game time and television designation is to be announced at a later date:

This will be the second consecutive year Pitt has played Northwestern and the sixth time in the program's history. Last year's 72-59 win in the championship round of the Fort Myers Tip Off for Pitt was the third straight win over Northwestern and extended Pitt's lead between the programs to a 4-1 record.

Jeff Capel noted his excitement in the first announced game for Pitt basketball this season and that it's against an opponent that his young team is familiar with from last year's matchup.

"The ACC/Big Ten Challenge is always an exciting couple of days of basketball and a great early season non-conference series," said Jeff Capel on Friday. "Northwestern is a terrific program led by one of my closest friends, Chris Collins. We played a great game against them last year in the championship game of the Fort Myers Tip-Off, so there will be some familiarity heading into the game this season. We will be ready to face a team that is well-prepared, disciplined and eager to compete in December."

Pitt was led in scoring in its victory over Northwestern last year by the now sophomore forward Justin Champagnie, who finished with 21 points, including three three-point shots made and six rebounds.

Because of the pandemic, Pitt has not announced its full season schedule for the season. The 2020-2021 NCAA basketball season is set to begin November 25th, but the later start than normal has led to programs across the country having a reduced non-conference schedule, including Pitt basketball pushing back its scheduled matchup with West Virginia to 2021.