Since its inception in 1999, the Big Ten/ACC Challenge hasn’t just been difficult for the Big Ten.

It’s been nearly impossible.

The Big Ten has never won the challenge, compiling a 31-56 overall record. In fact, Michigan State is the conference’s only team with a winning record (5-3).

Despite the ACC’s dominance, ESPN extended its contract with the conferences three years ago, and the network will air the matchups until 2011.

The Wolverines did not participate in the 2001 and 2002 games because NCAA sanctions prohibited them from taking part in tournaments. They are 3-4 in the series of games and have faired relatively well against what many consider to be the most competitive basketball conference in the country.

Michigan will try to even its record in the challenge tonight when it takes on Maryland in College Park, Md., at 7:30 p.m.

The matchups pair all Big Ten squads against all but one ACC team. Pairings are based on a variety of factors, but typically pit the best teams against one another. No. 13 Michigan State also plays tonight against No. 1 North Carolina at Ford Field. The game could be a preview of the Final Four which Detroit is slated to host in April 2009.

“For scheduling, it's great,” Michigan coach John Beilein said. “It's so hard to schedule. You know, you have another quality home game every other year. … You need some good road game strength on your RPI, so why not Maryland?”

Junior power forward DeShawn Sims and redshirt junior center Zack Gibson both said they support Big Ten teams in the challenge even if it means cheering for a rival like the Spartans or Ohio State.

The challenge was competitive through its first four seasons, but the past two years has been unkind to the Big Ten. The conference went 6-16 in that time. Michigan fell to Boston College at home last season 77-64, as the Eagles pulled away in the second half.

“I think it will cycle both ways over time,” Beilein said.

The Wolverines made headlines with their upset victory over then-No. 4 UCLA two weeks ago, but that was at a neutral site. Tonight will be their first road test against a Terrapins team that upset then-No.5 Michigan State last week.

With Duke coming to Crisler Arena for a sold-out game this Saturday, the Wolverines have their work cut out for them over next four days.

“No matter who we were playing last year, it was going to be a hard week,” said Beilein who went 1-0 against Maryland when he was the head coach at West Virginia. “When you play an ACC road game against a team like Maryland, at their place, (they’re) so difficult to beat.

“And then you have a team of Duke's magnitude coming in here, you just can't even think about the week. You have to think about today’s practice, and then Maryland is the only game left, and then we'll deal with Duke later on.”

Thanks to their win over UCLA, the unranked Wolverines received votes in the AP poll each of the last two weeks. Those were their first votes since January 2007.

“We want to be ranked,” said sophomore forward Manny Harris, who is Michigan’s leading scorer with 22.3 points per game. “It's not a player thing, it's more of a team thing. We've got a chance to do something big this week.”