May 16, 2013
- Read the May issue of Hawk Talk Monthly
- IowaWomensBasketball.com
- Order Iowa Women’s Basketball Tickets Online
- Download your Iowa Hawkeye iPhone/ipad app!
- Download your Iowa Hawkeye Android app!
- Big Ten Network: Free Hawkeye Video
- 24 Hawkeyes to Watch
IOWA CITY, Iowa — The University of Iowa women’s basketball team will host Syracuse as part of the seventh annual Big Ten/ACC Challenge. The game is scheduled for Thursday, Dec. 5, in Carver-Hawkeye Arena. Start time and television information will be released at a later date.
Syracuse begins a new era as a first-year member of the Atlantic Coast Conference. This will mark the third meeting between the Orange and Hawkeyes. Iowa has claimed both meetings, winning at Syracuse on Dec. 5, 1998, 70-64, in the Carrier Classic, and in Iowa City on Nov. 28, 1999, 76-73, in the Hawkeye Challenge.
The Orange, coached by Quentin Hillsman, finished 24-8 overall a year ago with an 11-5 mark in BIG EAST play. Syracuse lost to Creighton in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. In seven seasons at the helm of the program, Hillsman — the 2008 BIG EAST Coach of the Year — has coached the Orange to six consecutive postseason appearances, 11 postseason victories and six-straight winning seasons.
Iowa is 1-5 in the Challenge after falling at Florida State last year, 83-69. The Hawkeyes picked up their first win in the annual event two years ago with a 58-47 victory over Virginia Tech in Iowa City. Iowa was defeated at home by Georgia Tech (2007) and Boston College (2009) and fell on the road at Duke (2008) and North Carolina (2010).
Iowa — the only Big Ten team to appear in the last six NCAA Tournaments — is 12-8 all-time against ACC opponents. The Hawkeyes fell to the Seminoles in the Challenge and North Carolina in the Preseason WNIT last season, before downing Miami in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
A year ago, Big Ten teams combined for a 5-7 mark against their ACC counterparts. In the past two seasons, the two conferences have squared off in head-to-head competition on 37 total occasions with the Big Ten holding a 19-18 advantage.
The ACC and the Big Ten have long been among the most dominant conferences on the women’s basketball scene. For the sixth time in conference history, the Big Ten had at least six teams selected to the NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship in 2013, and Big Ten teams have appeared in the NCAA Sweet 16 in 27 of the last 29 years.
Last season, the ACC was represented by six overall postseason squads, including five teams in the NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship. The five teams in the tournament marked the 19th consecutive season at least four ACC teams have been selected to the field.
Game times and television information will be released at a later date.
2013 CHALLENGE SCHEDULE:
Wednesday, December 4
Notre Dame at Penn State
Illinois at Georgia Tech
Virginia Tech at Indiana
Michigan State at Florida State
Thursday, December 5
NC State at Northwestern
Boston College at Wisconsin
Syracuse at Iowa
Purdue at Duke
Ohio State at Maryland
Nebraska at North Carolina
Michigan at Virginia
Miami at Minnesota