North Carolina Tar Heels (5-1) will try to improve to 9-3 in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge under head coach Roy Williams when it hosts Iowa (5-2) on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. in the Smith Center. After losing its first four ACC/Big Ten Challenge games, UNC has won nine of its last 12 outings in the event.
Wednesday’s game will be televised nationally by ESPN. John Saunders (play-by-play) and Dick Vitale (analyst) will have the call. Tipoff is set for 7:32 p.m.
Carolina is returning home after four consecutive games away from the Smith Center in seven days. The Tar Heels went 3-1 during that stretch to improve to 5-1 this season, starting with a road win at Davidson and followed by a 2-1 performance at the Battle 4 Atlantis in the Bahamas over Thanksgiving.
Carolina is ranked No. 12 in both the Associated Press and ESPN/USA Today coaches polls this week, dropping from No. 5 and No. 6, respectively, in the same polls a week ago.
UNC junior All-America Marcus Paige is a native of Marion, Iowa, located approximately 35 miles from the Iowa campus in Iowa City.
The Hawkeyes enter Wednesday’s game with a 5-2 record and are riding a three-game winning streak (victories over Pepperdine, Northern Illinois and Longwood). Iowa’s losses this season came to Texas and Syracuse in the 2K Classic in New York, N.Y.
The Hawkeyes went 20-13 last season and lost in the NCAA Tournament first round in Dayton, Ohio, to Tennessee (which eventually reached the Sweet 16). Four Hawkeye starters return from 2013-14, including forward Aaron White, who is averaging 16.7 points and 7.6 rebounds while shooting .587 from the field through seven games this season.
Carolina is 1-2 all-time against Iowa, beating the Hawkeyes in the most recent meeting 10 years ago in the championship game of the Maui Invitational.
UNC lost both of the first two meetings between the two teams. On Jan. 7, 1989, Iowa defeated sixth-ranked Carolina 98-97 in the Smith Center in Chapel Hill. On Dec. 9, 1989, the Hawkeyes downed No. 17 UNC 87-74 in Iowa City.
Wednesday will be the first meeting between Carolina and Iowa in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. Roy Williams is 1-2 as a head coach against Iowa (0-2 at Kansas and 1-0 at UNC).
Carolina is 8-7 in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge with all seven wins coming in the last last 10 years under Williams, who is 8-3 as a head coach in the event. Last year, the Tar Heels upset No. 1-ranked Michigan State on the road.
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