Iowa men's basketball will face one of its toughest non-conference slates in years during the 2026-27 season, headlined by home dates with Alabama, Iowa State and Indiana plus road trips to Xavier and Purdue. Coach Ben McCollum laid out his approach at his media day press conference on Oct. 12.
According to Yahoo Sports, which broke the schedule down using the NCAA Evaluation Tool rankings, the Hawkeyes face 12 games that qualify as the toughest tier of competition, a sharp departure from the light non-conference scheduling that marked the end of the Fran McCaffery era.
McCollum Makes His Scheduling Philosophy Clear
Asked late in his press conference about the aggressive slate, McCollum did not hesitate.
If you want to be a real program, that's what you're going to have to do.
The second-year coach has backed up those words with action. Iowa opens the season at Carver-Hawkeye Arena against Lipscomb on Nov. 3 and Eastern Illinois on Nov. 6, then steps up quickly with Virginia Tech in Sioux City on Nov. 10 and Creighton in Des Moines on Nov. 15.
Both of those early neutral-site games should lean heavily toward the Hawkeyes thanks to friendly crowds, but they arrive just two weeks into the season, when rosters are still finding their footing.
The Hardest Games on the Slate
The marquee non-conference stretch comes fast. Iowa travels to Xavier on Nov. 20, visits Purdue on Dec. 1, hosts Iowa State on Dec. 10 in the Iowa Corn Cy-Hawk Series, and welcomes Alabama on Dec. 21. The Des Moines Register reports the Cy-Hawk showdown will tip at 6 p.m. on FS1.
The conference schedule brings its own gauntlet. Nebraska comes to Iowa City on Jan. 30 after the Hawkeyes visit Lincoln on Jan. 16, a rematch of a March meeting that left bad blood on both sides. Tom Izzo brings Michigan State to Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Feb. 16, and Iowa closes the regular season with road games at Wisconsin on Feb. 24 and Illinois on March 6.
Road games dominate the toughest tier for a reason. Iowa went 2-8 away from home last season, with the only wins coming at Washington and Oregon. Nearly every Big Ten road trip this year lands in the hardest category.
Buy Games and the Bottom of the Big Ten
The easiest stretch of the schedule consists of the traditional buy games at Carver-Hawkeye Arena: Lipscomb, Eastern Illinois, UMBC on Nov. 24, Prairie View A&M on Nov. 28, Western Illinois on Dec. 13, Bethune-Cookman on Dec. 17 and South Dakota on Dec. 29. If the Hawkeyes stumble in any of those, it signals a long winter ahead.
The most manageable Big Ten games, at least on paper, include Rutgers on the road Jan. 12, Penn State at home Jan. 23, Oregon at home Feb. 10, Northwestern on the road Feb. 13 and Washington at home March 2. Oregon is adjusting after coach Dan Altman's abrupt retirement, and Rutgers coach Steve Pikiell is battling cancer. Yahoo Sports noted that every Big Ten team is capable of winning on any given night.
Circle the Calendar: Indiana Comes to Town Dec. 7
The one game Iowa fans have already marked is Indiana's visit on Dec. 7. Hoosiers coach Darian DeVries is an Iowa native who was rumored to be a candidate for the Hawkeyes job before McCollum was hired. The early-December Big Ten matchup at Carver-Hawkeye Arena adds a personal storyline to an already meaningful conference opener.
Ohio State also appears twice, with the Buckeyes visiting Jan. 2 before Iowa travels to Columbus on Jan. 26. Wisconsin, Maryland, Minnesota and a home date with the Buckeyes round out the middle tier of the conference schedule.
The full schedule is posted on the