IU released the non-conference portion of its schedule soon after the Big Ten Network announced the Hoosiers’ conference schedule on BTN Live.
The Hoosiers — widely projected to be one of the top 15 teams in the country — kick off their season against Eastern Illinois on Friday, Nov. 13, at home.
IU Coach Tom Crean and company will face one true road test before league play when the Hoosiers travel to Durham, North Carolina, to face Duke on Dec. 2 in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. The game will be broadcast on ESPN at 9:15 p.m.
IU’s marquee home game in its non-conference schedule is against Creighton, a matchup that’s part of the inaugural year of the Gavitt Tipoff Games — an eight-game series between the Big Ten and the Big East scheduled for mid-November.
Four of the Hoosiers’ non-conference games will be played on a neutral court.
IU will play in the Maui Invitational for the sixth time in school history, where the Hoosiers will face Wake Forest in the opening round. It’s IU’s first appearance in the tournament since 2008. Chaminade, Kansas, St. John’s, UCLA, UNLV, Vanderbilt and Wake Forest will join the Hoosiers in Hawaii.
“It’s an incredible tournament and an unreal honor for us as a team and a staff and certainly a University and a fan base to be a part of it,” Crean said in July in a teleconference for the coaches competing in this year’s Maui Invitational.
IU will play three games in as many days in the 50th state during the week of Thanksgiving.
Almost a month later, IU will travel to Indianapolis’ Bankers Life Fieldhouse for a Crossroads Classic matchup against Notre Dame on Dec. 19 at 2 p.m.
The rest of IU’s non-conference schedule is filled with a handful of games against small-school competition – Alcorn State, Austin Peay, IPFW, Kennesaw State, Morehead State and McNeese State.
IU opens Big Ten play on the road against Rutgers on Wednesday, Dec. 30, while the Hoosiers’ Big Ten home opener is against Wisconsin on Tuesday, Jan. 5.
The Hoosiers play Purdue and Big Ten-favorite Maryland just once, and both games will be played in Assembly Hall.
IU will also play Michigan, Michigan State, Northwestern, Ohio State, Penn State and Rutgers once each, while facing Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska and Wisconsin twice.
In ESPN’s latest preseason top 25 poll — published Aug. 5 — seven of IU’s potential regular season opponents were ranked. No. 1 Maryland, No. 5 Kansas, No. 6 Duke, No. 16 Notre Dame, No. 18 Vanderbilt, No. 19 Michigan State and No. 24 Wisconsin earned the nod.
IU could potentially meet Vanderbilt in the second round of the Maui Invitational and Kansas in the championship game if both schools win their first two games.
