Iowa to play at Marquette in inaugural Gavitt Games

IOWA CITY - Iowa's men's basketball team will travel to Marquette on Thursday, Nov. 19 in the inaugural Gavitt Tipoff Games.

The match-up is one of eight early-season games scheduled between the Big East and Big Ten. Others that were reported by multiple sites - but not confirmed - include Maryland-Georgetown, Illinois-Providence, Creighton-Indiana, Rutgers-St. John's, Nebraska-Villanova, Xavier-Michigan and Penn State-DePaul.

The Gavitt games, which are named for Big East Conference founder Dave Gavitt, features eight annual early-season games between the conferences from 2015 through 2022. Two games will be played on the Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of the season's first full week. Big Ten teams will compete in the series a minimum of four times, while Big East squads will play six times.

Home squads will determine the television network. At Big East locations, Fox Sports 1 will air the game. At Big Ten sites, the games will air on either ESPN or BTN.

Iowa has played Marquette 17 times and leads lead the series 10-7. In 1955, the squads met in the Elite Eight in Kansas City, which the Hawkeyes won 86-81. That gave Iowa the first of its three Final Four appearances. The squads' last meeting was in 1982.

Here's most from the official release:

The Golden Eagles posted a 13-19 overall record and tied for ninth in league play with a 4-14 record under first-year head coach Steve Wojciechowski. Marquette returns four letterwinners, including second-leading scorer Duane Wilson (11.9 ppg), and will welcome five freshmen to its squad.

'I think this event will be special,” said UI head coach Fran McCaffery. 'It's such a great idea to generate this kind of interest in early November to start the season. Playing on the road against an improved Marquette team from a year ago will be an early test for our basketball team.”

The Hawkeyes return four starters from last year's squad that finished 22-12 overall and tied for third place in the Big Ten with a 12-6 conference record. Iowa returns second-leading scorer and rebounder Jarrod Uthoff (12.4 ppg and 6.4 rpg) and Mike Gesell, who led the team in assists (4.0 apg). The Black and Gold will also add six newcomers to its fall roster.

This will be the first meeting between the two schools since 1982 and the 18th overall meeting.

'Our family is excited about the Big Ten and BIG EAST launching this new series, which honors the memory of Dave Gavitt and his passion for college basketball,” said Dan Gavitt, NCAA Vice President of Men's Basketball Championships. 'He would be most pleased that the student-athletes, coaches and supporters of these historic college basketball programs can look forward to annual competition at the highest level to help open the college season with a bang. We are thankful to the two great conferences for recognizing the Gavitt legacy with the intra-conference games featuring new and old rivalries and intriguing match-ups.”

The annual series will feature renewed battles between local foes and attractive intersectional matchups. Eight teams in the inaugural event advanced to the NCAA Tournament and won at least 20 games last season.

Tip times will be released at a later date. Below are the 2015 Gavitt Games match-ups.

Tuesday, Nov. 17

Georgetown at Maryland (BTN or an ESPN Network)

DePaul at Penn State (BTN or an ESPN Network)

Nebraska at Villanova (FS1)

Wednesday, Nov. 18

Illinois at Providence (FS1)

Thursday, Nov. 19

Creighton at Indiana (BTN or an ESPN Network)

Iowa at Marquette (FS1)

Rutgers at St. John's (FS1)

Friday, Nov. 20

Xavier at Michigan (BTN or an ESPN Network)

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