College basketball on television: Louisville faces big challenge at Michigan State

It’s the final night of the Big 10/ACC Challenge and the first big challenge for Rick Pitino and Louisville, on the court anyway. The unbeaten Cardinals travel to East Lansing to take on No. 3 Michigan State at 7:15 Wednesday night on ESPN.

Thus far, the inter-conference showdown is knotted up at 4-4. No. 9 North Carolina from the ACC got the better of visiting and second-ranked Maryland of the Big Ten on Tuesday night. Final score was 89-81. In his first game back after suffering a broken hand, North Carolina point guard Marcus Paige score 20 points.

No. 10 Virginia handed Ohio State its fourth straight loss, beating the Buckeyes 64-58 in Columbus. Kentucky plays Ohio State on Dec. 19 in Brooklyn as part of the CBS Sports Classic.

As for Wednesday’s games, besides U fo L-Michigan State, Wisconsin travels to surprising Syracuse for a 7:15 p.m. game on ESPN2. Syracuse is fresh off winning the Battle 4 Atlantis where the Orange downed Connecticut and Texas A&M in the semifinals and finals.

Then at 9:15 p.m., following Cards-Spartans on ESPN, Indiana travels to No. 6 Duke. Tom Crean's Hoosiers are off to a slow start but could hush the critics with a win over the Blue Devils in Cameron Indoor Stadium.

Here's the full list of college basketball games on television for Wednesday night:

Wednesday, Dec. 2

▪ 7:00 - Hartford at Providence (Fox Sports South)

▪ 7:00 - Butler at Cincinnati (CBS Sports)

▪ 7:15 - Penn State at Boston College (ESPNU)

▪ 7:15 - Wisconsin at Syracuse (ESPN2)

▪ 7:15 - Louisville at Michigan State (ESPN)

▪ 8:00 - Texas Southern at Mississippi State (SEC)

▪ 9:00 - Arizona State at Creighton (CBS Sports)

▪ 9:00 - VCU at Middle Tennessee State (Fox Sports South)

▪ 9:15 - Florida State at Iowa (ESPNU)

▪ 9:15 - Indiana at Duke (ESPN)

▪ 9:15 - Notre Dame at Illinois (ESPN2)

▪ 11:00 - Gonzaga at Washington State (Fox Sports 1)