Iowa-UNC heads for ESPN

IOWA CITY — Iowa will face North Carolina at 6:30 p.m. Dec. 3 as part of the Big Ten-ACC Challenge, the league announced today. ESPN will air the game.

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.

North Carolina junior point guard Marcus Paige hails from Marion and was Iowa's Mr. Basketball as a senior at Linn-Mar High School. Two of his AAU teammates are 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. Woodbury, however, spurned Williams for Iowa.

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.

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 owns a 2-1 record against the Tar Heels. The Hawkeyes won 98-97 at Chapel Hill in 1989 and 87-74 in 1990. North Carolina beat Iowa 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 79-65 upset of then-No. 1 Michigan State at East Lansing.

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

SCHEDULE

Monday, Dec. 1

Nebraska at Florida State, 6 p.m., ESPN2

Rutgers at Clemson, 6 p.m., ESPNU

Tuesday, Dec. 2

Pittsburgh at Indiana, 6 p.m., ESPN2

Minnesota at Wake Forest, 6 p.m., ESPNU

No. 21 Syracuse at No. 24 Michigan, 6:30 p.m., ESPN

NC State at Purdue 8 p.m., ESPN2/U

Illinois at Miami (Fla.), 8 p.m. ESPN2/U

Ohio State at No. 8 Louisville, 8:30 p.m., ESPN

Wednesday, Dec. 3

No. 18 Michigan State at Notre Dame, 6:15 p.m., ESPN2

Virginia Tech at Penn State, 6:15 p.m., ESPNU

No. 25 Iowa at No. 6 North Carolina, 6:30 p.m., ESPN

No. 7 Virginia at Maryland 8:15 p.m., ESPN2

Georgia Tech at Northwestern, 8:15 p.m., ESPNU

No. 2 Duke at No. 4 Wisconsin, 8:30 p.m., ESPN

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