IU men’s basketball will compete in the 2020 Gavitt Tipoff Games, as first reported by Adam Zagoria of ZagsBlog.
The Gavitt Tipoff Games pairs select Big Ten teams against select teams from the Big East conference in a showcase that takes place during the first full week of the regular season.
According to Zagoria, IU and other Big Ten teams including Iowa, Michigan State, Purdue, Rutgers, Wisconsin, Maryland and Illinois will all take part in the event. Zagoria also reports that the Big East competitors will include Butler University, Creighton University, Georgetown University, Marquette University, Providence University, St. John’s University, Villanova University and Xavier University.
IU has taken part in the event three previous times, including home wins against Creighton in 2015 and Marquette in 2018, as well a road loss to Seton Hall University in 2017. IU beat Creighton and Marquette by an average of 22 points and fell to Seton Hall by 16.
IU’s opponent is yet to be announced, though it seems likely to be a road game given IU’s last Gavitt appearance was at Assembly Hall. If IU has to travel for the game, that will put the majority of IU’s tough nonconference games on the road. IU will likely travel for the ACC/Big Ten Challenge and will go to Hawaii to compete in the Maui Jim Maui Invitational which also features the University of North Carolina, University of Texas and Stanford University.
IU has not won a true road game in the nonconference schedule under head coach Archie Miller. The Hoosiers are 22-4 in nonconference games at Assembly Hall in Miller’s three years at the helm, but only 3-2 against major conference opponents.
