Friday, June 1, 2018

Iowa to Host Pitt in ACC/Big Ten Challenge


IOWA CITY, Iowa -- The University of Iowa men's basketball team will host Pittsburgh onTuesday, Nov. 27 on Mediacom Court inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena as part of the 2018 ACC/Big Ten Challenge, it was announced Friday by the league office.

ESPN, ESPN2, and ESPNU will combine to televise all 14 games of the event and all games will be available to stream via the ESPN app.  Tip times and network designations will be announced at a later date.
 
The Hawkeyes have won their last two Challenge games in Iowa City, topping Notre Dame (98-93) in 2013 and outlasting Florida State (78-75) in overtime in 2015.
 
This will be Iowa's eighth all-time meeting against Pitt and the first as part of the Challenge. The Hawkeyes are 2-5 against the Panthers, but Iowa has won the last two matchups, winning 73-66 at Pittsburgh in 1950 and 103-70 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in 1976.

This will mark Iowa's 18th appearance in the 20-year history of the Challenge.
 
Iowa finished the 2017-18 season with a 14-19 overall record. The Hawkeyes return their top nine scorers and 11 letterwinners, including honorable-mention All-Big Ten selections Tyler Cook and Jordan Bohannon. 
 
Pitt went 8-24 last season and was winless in ACC play (0-18) in 2017-18.  Jeff Capel is in his first season as the Panthers' head coach after spending the past seven seasons at Duke.  He was Mike Krzyzewski's associate head coach the past four seasons.
 
The ACC won last year's Challenge by the count of 11-3 to retain possession of the Commissioner's Cup. The Big Ten has won five of the last nine Challenges (2009, 2010, 2011, 2014, and 2015). The ACC and Big Ten split the 2012 and 2013 Challenges, with each conference notching six victories.

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