2014 SEC/Big 12 Challenge: Iowa State will host Arkansas

The Iowa State Cyclones will be hosting the Arkansas Razorbacks during ESPN’s 2014 SEC/Big 12 Challenge in men’s basketball.

Mar 13, 2014; Atlanta, GA, USA; Arkansas Razorbacks guard Rashad Madden (00) dribbles past South Carolina Gamecocks guard Sindarius Thornwell (0) during the first half in the second round of the SEC college basketball tournament at Georgia Dome. Mandatory Credit: Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports

Here’s the official press release describing the format of the event, which will be played in four straight days on a variety of ESPN networks, similar to the ACC/Big Ten Challenge.

"All games in the Challenge are scheduled over a four-day span, from December 3-6. ESPN will provide exclusive coverage of all 10 games on it networks. Additional components of the event, including start times and exact network information, will be announced at a later date."

This is the fifth meeting all-time between the Cyclones and Razorbacks. ISU holds a 3-1 advantage and they last met back in 1999. The game will be played on Thursday, December 4th.

Here’s the rest of the matchups:

• Auburn at Texas Tech (Dec. 3)
• Baylor at Vanderbilt (Dec. 4)
• LSU at West Virginia (Dec. 4)
• TCU at Mississippi (Dec. 4)
• Florida at Kansas (Dec. 5)
• Missouri at Oklahoma (Dec. 5)
• Texas at Kentucky (Dec. 5)
• Kansas State at Tennessee (Dec. 6)
• Oklahoma State at South Carolina (Dec. 6)

Obviously, there aren’t enough Big 12 teams to match up with all 14 SEC teams, so Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi State, and oddly enough, Texas A&M, was left off the schedule.

The money slate of games is that Friday with the top tier SEC opponents going at it with some of the Big 12 heavyweights.

For me, the announcement comes as a slight disappointment. There was a feeling that it would be Arkansas, and I really expected it to be there. Not having to play in Arkansas will help out Iowa State a lot, as that’s an incredibly tough atmosphere to win in, especially in the SEC.

Nothing against Arkansas, but it would have nice to host somebody like Tennessee or Missouri at Hilton Coliseum. The Razorbacks lack that certain flare that there was with Michigan last season.

That doesn’t mean it’s a throwaway game, or near as easy of a matchup as the game against Auburn is last year’s challenge. Arkansas finished with a 22-12 overall record last season and fifth in the SEC.