The Iowa women's basketball team huddles up before a first-round NCAA Tournament game against Illinois State on March 18, 2020 at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City, Iowa. (Rob Howe/HawkeyeNation.com)
Iowa Women Hosting NC State in ACC/B1G Challenge
IOWA CITY, Iowa - The Iowa women’s basketball team will host NC State on Thursday, Dec. 1, as part of the 2022 ACC/Big Ten Women’s Basketball Challenge. The Hawkeyes and Wolfpack won their respective conference’s regular season and postseason tournament titles last season.
This will mark the first meeting between the two programs in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge and will be the Wolfpack’s first visit to Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
The two teams have met three previous times, all on neutral floors, including twice in the NCAA Tournament. The Hawkeyes cruised to a 79-61 victory in the 2019 NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 in Greensboro, North Carolina, and won, 56-50, in the 1997 NCAA Tournament First Round in Storrs, Connecticut. NC State edged Iowa in overtime, 69-66, in the first round of the Loyola Marymount Thanksgiving Classic in Los Angeles in 2002.
Iowa won both the Big Ten regular season and tournament titles, totaling 24 wins and ascending as high as No. 8 in the national rankings a season ago. The Hawkeyes return all five starters, including All-Americans Caitlin Clark and Monika Czinano. Clark, who was honored as the Big Ten Player of the Year and a Naismith and Wooden Award finalist in 2021, averaged an NCAA best in points per game (27.0), assists per game (8.0), triple-doubles (5), free throws made (200) and 30-point games (11). In addition to earning honorable mention All-America accolades, Czinano was first-team all-conference and Lisa Leslie Center of the Year Semifinalist. The fifth-year senior led the nation in field-goal percentage (67.9) and ranked sixth in field-goals made (277), 11th in total points (656) and 12th in points per game (21.2).
NC State captured both the ACC regular season and tournament championships, finishing with 32 victories and making the program’s first Elite Eight appearance since 1998. The Wolfpack return two of their top two scorers from a year ago: Diamond Johnson (10.8 ppg) and Jakia Brown-Turner (9.8 ppg). Head coach Wes Brown has served as head coach the past nine seasons, leading the Wolfpack to three consecutive ACC Tournament titles (2020, 2021, 2022).
The Big Ten and ACC offices collaborate to determine challenge matchups each season. The Big Ten and ACC have been among the most competitive conferences on the national women’s basketball landscape for several years, with the two conferences sending 14 schools to the 2022 NCAA Tournament.
The ACC won the 2021 Big Ten/ACC Challenge, 10-4. The Hawkeyes lost last season’s Challenge contest at Duke, but won their last Challenge home game, beating Clemson in 2019.
Game times and television information for all Challenge games will be announced at a later date.
Iowa’s complete 2022-23 women’s basketball schedule will be announced later this summer.
The 2022 Challenge schedule is listed below:
Wednesday, Nov. 30
Illinois at Pittsburgh
Ohio State at Louisville
Syracuse at Purdue
Virginia at Penn State
Wake Forest at Minnesota
Rutgers at Boston College
Thursday, Dec. 1
Northwestern at Duke
Michigan at Miami
Maryland at Notre Dame
North Carolina at Indiana
Nebraska at Virginia Tech
N.C. State at IOWA
Florida State at Wisconsin
Georgia Tech at Michigan State
