Iowa opens Big Ten basketball against Indiana

From UI Sports Information:

The Big Ten Conference announced the 2012-13 conference men's basketball schedule Thursday. The conference season begins on New Year's Eve and culminates in March with the Big Ten Men's Basketball Tournament at the United Center in Chicago.  Iowa's schedule includes four Big Ten weekend home dates, highlighted by the conference opener at home against Indiana on New Year's Eve day and a home contest against Wisconsin on the 20-year anniversary of Chris Street's death (Jan. 19).

“The first portion of our Big Ten schedule is very difficult,” said UI head coach Fran McCaffery.  “I've been coaching in this league for two years and I don't remember any part of the schedule not being difficult. I don't care who you are playing home or on the road… everyone has talent and a great coach.  Everyone has guys coming back and a strong recruiting class.”

The complete 2012-13 Big Ten men's basketball conference schedule is attached as a PDF.

Start times and television information will be released at a later date.

• Iowa's seven weekend home dates include four conference games.  Weekend home contests are against Gardner Webb (Nov. 17), Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (Dec. 1), Coppin State (Dec. 22), Wisconsin (Jan. 19), Northwestern (Feb. 9), Minnesota (Feb. 17) and the season finale against Nebraska (March 9).

• Iowa will host Wisconsin on the 20-year anniversary of the death of Chris Street.  Wisconsin assistant coach Gary Close was an assistant on Iowa's staff the year Street was killed.

• Iowa's two conference byes come after its fourth Big Ten game (Jan. 13) and 14

  ^th

  contest (Feb. 21).  Both are weekend byes.

• Iowa will open the Big Ten schedule at home against Indiana on New Year's Eve day (Dec. 31).  The Hawkeyes last opened Big Ten play against the Hoosiers on Jan. 2, 2008, in Iowa City.

• Ten of Iowa's first 12 games come against conference competition that appeared in the NCAA or NIT postseason a year ago.

• Iowa's first seven league opponents boasted a combined 178-72 (.712) record in 2011-12.  Six of the seven teams won 20 games or more and the seven teams averaged 25.4 victories.  Iowa will host Indiana (27-9) on Dec. 31; travel to Michigan (24-10) on Jan. 6; entertain Michigan State (29-8) on Jan. 10; play at Northwestern (19-14) on Jan. 19; host Wisconsin (26-10) on Jan. 19; and then travel to Ohio State (31-8) on Jan. 22 and Purdue (22-13) on Jan. 27.

• Iowa will close the regular season at home against Nebraska on March 9, marking the third consecutive season the Hawkeyes will play their regular season finale in Iowa City (Purdue in 2010 and Northwestern in 2011).

• Iowa will play its final two regular season games on Mediacom Court at Carver-Hawkeye Arena: Illinois (March 5) and Nebraska (March 9).  In fact, three of Iowa's final four contests will be in Iowa City.  The Hawkeyes also host Purdue (Feb. 27) before playing their road finale at Indiana (March 2).

• Between Jan. 22 and Feb. 6, Iowa will play four of five games away from home.  Road contests include: Ohio State (Jan. 22), Purdue (Jan. 27), Minnesota (Feb. 3) and Wisconsin (Feb. 6). The squad's lone home game during that stretch is Penn State (Jan. 31).

• Iowa plays at Northwestern on Sunday, Jan. 13, marking the first time since 2009 this game played in Evanston isn't played on a Thursday.

Fri., Nov. 9 UT-Pan American IOWA CITY TBD

Mon., Nov. 12 Central Michigan IOWA CITY TBD

Thurs., Nov. 15 Howard # IOWA CITY TBD

Sat., Nov. 17 Gardner Webb # IOWA CITY TBD

Tues., Nov. 20 vs. Western Kentucky + Cancun, Mexico 8:30 p.m. CBS SN

Wed., Nov. 21 vs. DePaul / Wichita State + Cancun, Mexico 6/8:30 p.m. CBS SN

Tues., Nov. 27 at Virginia Tech % Blacksburg, Va. 6:15 p.m. ESPNU

Sat., Dec. 1 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi IOWA CITY TBD

Tues., Dec. 4 South Dakota IOWA CITY TBD

Fri., Dec. 7 Iowa State * IOWA CITY TBD

Sat., Dec. 15 vs. Northern Iowa ^ Des Moines, Iowa TBD

Wed., Dec. 19 South Carolina State IOWA CITY TBD

Sat., Dec. 22 Coppin State IOWA CITY TBD

Mon. Dec. 31 Indiana IOWA CITY TBD

Sun., Jan. 6 at Michigan Ann Arbor, Mich. TBD

Thurs., Jan. 10 Michigan State IOWA CITY TBD

Sun., Jan. 13 at Northwestern Evanston, Ill. TBD

Sat., Jan. 19 Wisconsin IOWA CITY TBD

Tues., Jan. 22 at Ohio State Columbus, Ohio TBD

Sun., Jan. 27 at Purdue West Lafayette, Ind. TBD

Thurs., Jan. 31 Penn State IOWA CITY TBD

Sun., Feb. 3 at Minnesota Minneapolis, Minn. TBD

Wed., Feb. 6 at Wisconsin Madison, Wis. TBD

Sat., Feb. 9 Northwestern IOWA CITY TBD

Thurs., Feb. 14 at Penn State University Park, Pa. TBD

Sun., Feb. 17 Minnesota IOWA CITY TBD

Thurs., Feb. 21 at Nebraska Lincoln, Neb. TBD

Wed., Feb. 27 Purdue IOWA CITY TBD

Sat., March 2 at Indiana Bloomington, Ind. TBD

Tues., March 5 Illinois IOWA CITY TBD

Sat., March 9 Nebraska IOWA CITY TBD

Thurs.-Sun., Mar. 14-17 at Big Ten Tournament Chicago

Tues.-Wed., Mar. 19-20 at First Four Dayton, Ohio

Thurs.-Sun., Mar. 21-24 at NCAA Tournament, First/Second Rounds

Thurs.-Sun., Mar. 28-31 at NCAA Tournament Regional Finals

Sat.-Mon., Apr. 6-8 at NCAA Final Four Atlanta