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Iowa, Clemson to meet at Emerald Coast Classic
NICEVILLE, Florida — Game matchups for the eighth annual Emerald Coast Classic, which include the University of Iowa, were announced by Global Sports on Tuesday.
Iowa will face Clemson in a semifinal round game at 6 p.m. (CT) on Friday, Nov. 25, while TCU will play Cal at 8:30 p.m. (CT). The third-place game will be played at 3 p.m. (CT) on Saturday Nov. 26, with the championship game scheduled for a 6 p.m. (CT) tip off on that Saturday. All games will be held at Raider Arena on the campus of Northwest Florida State College. Television information will be released later this summer.
Iowa captured the 2022 Big Ten Conference Tournament championship, tied for fourth in the conference standings and won 26 overall games, the second most wins in a season in program history. Fran McCaffery has coached Iowa to 20-plus wins eight of the last 10 seasons, including four straight years. The Hawkeyes have competed in the last three NCAA Tournaments and have been ranked in the final Associated Press Poll each of the last three years: No. 16 in 2020, No. 8 in 2021 and No. 25 in 2022.
This year will mark the second appearance for the Hawkeyes in the Emerald Coast Classic. Iowa previously competed in the 2016 tournament versus Virginia and Memphis.
Returning starting forwards Hunter Tyson and PJ Hall will key the fortunes for Clemson, which won five of its last six games to close out the 2021-22 campaign. Brad Brownell is the winningest coach in Clemson history, earning 218 victories in 12 years while guiding the Tigers to the 2021 NCAA Tournament, 2018 Sweet 16, 2011 NCAA Tournament and three NIT appearances.
The Horned Frogs’ second NCAA Tournament bid under coach Jamie Dixon was their fourth postseason appearance in the five seasons that postseason was held, the best in program history. TCU has all five starters returning from its 2021-22 team which finished 21-13, its fourth 20-win season in six years under Dixon with a program-record five wins over AP Top 25 teams. TCU surged late with consecutive victories over top-10 opponents in Texas Tech and Kansas to secure a NCAA Tournament berth.
Mark Fox will enter his fourth season as the head men’s basketball coach at Cal and has averaged nearly 19 wins each year in his 17-year coaching career. In previous stops at Nevada and Georgia, Fox has guided teams to five appearances in the NCAA Tournament. Cal boasts 28 postseason appearances, including 19 NCAA Tournament appearances.
On campus first-round games start Nov. 17 with TCU hosting Louisiana Monroe. Cal hosts Southern on Nov. 18 and Omaha travels to Iowa and Loyola Maryland visits Clemson on Nov. 21.
Tickets will go on sale later this summer. For more tournament information visit emeraldcoastclassic.com.
