Iowa to Play at Virginia in Third Round of the NIT

Two days after Iowa beat Stony Brook to move into the third round of the 2013 NIT, we finally know their opponent in that third round game: Virginia. The Cavaliers demolished St. John's earlier today, 68-50, to make their own way into the third round. Virginia is the #1 seed in Iowa's region, so they'll host the third round game between Iowa and Virginia. That game is set for 6pm CT on Wednesday, March 27. ESPN2 will televise the game.

Virginia is currently riding a 19-game home winning streak; they haven't lost in Charlottesville since a 59-53 setback to Delaware (!) back in November. While the loss to the Blue Hens is a little curious, Virginia did beat several NCAA teams at home this season, including North Carolina State, North Carolina, and Duke. (They didn't play ACC champion Miami at home this year.) They're also 1-0 against Big Ten competition this season, beating Wisconsin 60-54 in Madison during the Big Ten-ACC Challenge.

Like Iowa, Virginia played a non-conference scheduled loaded with cupcakes (their non-conference SOS ranked 333rd in the country, per KenPom, which is actually worse than Iowa's non-conference SOS), which is probably a big reason why they found themselves shut out of the NCAA Tournament despite winning 20 games and finishing tied for 4th in the ACC with an 11-7 league record. Speaking of KenPom, they're currently the highest-ranked non-Iowa team remaining in the NIT (they were 31st entering today); between that and the fact that the game is on the road, this figures to be a very challenging game for Iowa. Iowa is 2-9 so far against KenPom Top 30 teams this season.

We'll have much more on this game in the next few days. In the meantime, Streaking the Lawn is SB Nation's Virginia blog -- go ahead and peruse their blog if you want to find out a bit more about Iowa's next opponent.