Hawkeyes' non-conference slate set

IOWA CITY -- The University of Iowa women's basketball team will face six teams who advanced to postseason play a year ago, including five NCAA tournament teams, in non-conference play.

Iowa opens the season with four-straight home games, starting with an exhibition against Winona State (Nov. 6) in Carver-Hawkeye Arena.  The annual Hawkeye Challenge will be staged Nov. 12-13 with Butler, Harvard and UNLV coming to Iowa City.  Matchups for the Hawkeye Challenge will be announced at a later date. 

Butler finished second in the Horizon League last season and played in the WNIT, while Harvard finished second in the Ivy League.  Iowa wraps up the home stand by hosting Albany Nov. 16.

The Hawkeyes will then play three straight games away from Iowa City.  Iowa's first intrastate rivalry game will be at Northern Iowa Nov. 20.  The Panthers are coming off their second straight Missouri Valley Conference tournament championship and NCAA Tournament appearance. 

Iowa spends Thanksgiving in The Bahamas at the Junkanoo Jam. Iowa opens the tournament Nov. 25 against another NCAA Tournament opponent in St. John's.  The Hawkeyes will then face either Temple, who finished second in the Atlantic 10 and made the NCAA Tournament last year, or the defending NCAA national champion Texas A&M Aggies, on Nov. 26.

Iowa returns home Nov. 30 to take on Virginia Tech in the annual Big Ten/ACC Challenge before traveling to Kansas State Dec. 3 for the Big 12/Big Ten Challenge.  Iowa defeated both Virginia Tech and Kansas State last season.  The Wildcats finished fourth in the Big 12 and advanced to the NCAA Tournament.

The Hawkeyes will travel to Ames for a matchup against Iowa State in the Iowa Corn Cy-Hawk Series Dec. 7.  The Cyclones are another non-conference opponent who participated in the NCAA Tournament last season.

Iowa will play three of its final four non-conference games at home, starting Dec. 9 vs. Western Illinois.  The Hawkeyes travel to Bradley Dec. 17, before finishing the non-conference schedule at home Dec. 20 vs. Drake and Dec. 22 vs. Mississippi Valley State.

Tip-off times and television information, along with the complete Big Ten schedule, will be released later this summer.