The Florida State Seminoles will visit the Iowa Hawkeyes for the 17th annual ACC/Big Ten Challenge on Dec. 2, 2015. The matchup marks only the third time these two programs will play each other.
The schools have split their two previous matchups. They first met in the 1988 NCAA tournament, a 102-98 victory for the Hawkeyes. In 2002, the Seminoles defeated the Hawkeyes 80-67 as part of the ACC/Big Ten Challenge.
The two programs have garnered some preseason buzz going into the 2015-2016 season. The Seminoles went an overall 17-16 last season and exceeded expectations in recruiting. Named by some as the nation's third-best recruiting class -- and the program's best in history -- they bring in five-star recruit Dwayne Bacon from Oak Hill Academy, along with two four-star recruits, Malik Beasley from Atlanta and Terance Mann from Massachusetts.
The Seminoles also return several key players from last year's team. Among them, Xavier-Rathan Mayes, who received national attention last season when he scored 30 points in the final five minutes of a game against the Miami Hurricanes. Along with Mayes, last year's leading scorer, they also return leading rebounder Montay Brandon, as well as six of the team's top scorers from last season.
In terms of the Hawkeyes, after an impressive 22-12 record, which earned them third in the Big-10, would eventually succumb to Gonzaga in the 2015 NCAA Tournament. The Hawkeyes were 22-12 last season and return second-leading scorer and rebounder Jarod Uthoff along with Mike Gesell, who led the team in assists.
