It’s official: Iowa at North Carolina in ACC-Big Ten Challenge

IOWA CITY - Iowa men's basketball will travel to North Carolina in a marquee Big Ten-ACC Challenge match-up this fall.

The 14-game annual series was announced this afternoon, and the Dec. 3 game will take place at Chapel Hill. Both teams qualified for the NCAA tournament last year. Iowa finished 20-13, while North Carolina was 24-10. Iowa is ranked No. 25 and North Carolina is No. 6 in ESPN's way-too-early preseason poll for next year.

'We are excited about the opportunity to play North Carolina in this year's Challenge,” Iowa Coach Fran McCaffery said in a statement. 'North Carolina is a talented basketball team that is extremely well-coached. This game will enhance our non-conference schedule and be a good road test for us early in the season.”

The match-up features plenty of local storylines. Incoming North Carolina junior point guard Marcus Paige hails from Marion and was Mr. Basketball at Linn-Mar High School. Two of his AAU teammates are incoming Iowa junior starters Mike Gesell and Adam Woodbury. North Carolina Coach Roy Williams has raided the state of Iowa five different times for top-flight players. While at North Carolina he recruited Paige and Ames' Harrison Barnes. At Kansas, he snagged Raef LaFrentz, Kirk Hinrich and Nick Collison.

Paige was named first-team all-ACC last year after averaging team highs in points (17.5), assists (4.2) and minutes (35.6). He scored 35 points against North Carolina State and 32 points against Louisville. At 6-foot-1, he's the shortest player to ever lead a Williams-coached team in scoring.

The Tar Heels also return starting forwards J.P. Tokoto and Kennedy Meeks. Tokoto was a member of the ACC's all-defensive team and averaged 9.3 points, 5.8 rebounds and 1.6 steals a game. Meeks (7.6 ppg and 6.1 rpg) was named to the ACC All-Freshman team.

Along with Gesell and Woodbury, Iowa returns senior forward Aaron White, who led the Hawkeyes in rebounding for the third straight season. White was a third-team all-Big Ten selection.

Iowa is 2-1 all-time against the Tar Heels. The Hawkeyes won 98-97 at Chapel Hill in 1989 and then 87-74 in 1990. The Hawkeyes lost 106-92 in the 2004 Maui Invitational.

The Hawkeyes ended a seven-game Challenge losing streak last year with a 98-93 win against Notre Dame. North Carolina scored a surprising 79-65 upset of then-No. 1 Michigan State at East Lansing. Other games reported by Sports Illustrated include Duke at Wisconsin, Syracuse at Michigan, Ohio State at Louisville and Pittsburgh at Indiana.

Two weeks ago at the team's season-ending banquet, McCaffery was asked if there was a chance Iowa would face North Carolina this year.

'There's always that possibility with the ACC-Big Ten Challenge,” McCaffery said. 'I think they're a home team and we're a road team, but we'd be playing them down there if that happened.”

Apparently it did.

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Here are the team records in the 155-game series:

ACC (88-67)

- Duke 13-2; Wake Forest 10-3; Boston College 6-2; Maryland 10-5; Clemson 9-5; Virginia 8-6; North Carolina 8-7; Florida State 6-9; North Carolina State 6-8; Georgia Tech 5-9; Virginia Tech 3-5; Miami 2-5; Pittsburgh 1-0; Syracuse 1-0; Notre Dame 0-1; Louisville 0-0

Big Ten (67-88)

- Nebraska 2-1; Ohio State 7-6; Purdue 7-6; Illinois 7-8; Minnesota 7-8; Wisconsin 7-8; Michigan State 6-8; Northwestern 6-9; Indiana 5-8; Penn State 5-8; Michigan 5-8; Iowa 3-10; Maryland 0-0*

* Maryland leaves ACC for Big Ten this year

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SCHEDULE

Monday, Dec. 1

Nebraska at Florida State

Rutgers at Clemson

Tuesday, Dec. 2

No. 21 Syracuse at No. 24 Michigan

Ohio State at No. 8 Louisville

Pittsburgh at Indiana

NC State at Purdue

Illinois at Miami (Fla.)

Minnesota at Wake Forest

Wednesday, Dec. 3

No. 2 Duke at No. 4 Wisconsin

No. 18 Michigan State at Notre Dame

No. 25 Iowa at No. 6 North Carolina

No. 7 Virginia at Maryland

Georgia Tech at Northwestern

Virginia Tech at Penn State

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