By JOHN BOHNENKAMP

The opening part of Iowa’s men’s basketball schedule got tougher on Thursday when the Big Ten portion was announced.

The Hawkeyes open conference play on December 11 against Wisconsin. That will conclude an eight-game stretch in which the Hawkeyes will play seven opponents from college basketball’s power conferences — Seton Hall (Big East), Clemson (ACC), California (PAC-12) or TCU (Big 12), Georgia Tech (ACC), Duke (ACC), Iowa State (Big 12) and Wisconsin.

The Hawkeyes will play seven Big Ten teams home-and-home — Indiana, Michigan State, Nebraska, Northwestern, Ohio State, Rutgers and Wisconsin. Iowa’s single-plays in the Big Ten will be Illinois, Maryland and Michigan at home, and Minnesota, Penn State and Purdue on the road.

It is the 13th season for coach Fran McCaffery, who brings back 11 players — including five of their top seven scorers — from last season’s 26-win team that won the Big Ten tournament and played in the NCAA tournament. The Hawkeyes have made three consecutive NCAA tournament trips.

Game times and television assignments will be released at a later date.

Among the other features of the schedule:

• Iowa will open the regular season with three of four games at home, starting with the November 7 game against Bethune-Cookman.
• The Hawkeyes will play back-to-back conference road games four times.
• Iowa has a stretch of four consecutive home games in December — Iowa State, Wisconsin, Southeast Missouri State and Eastern Illinois.
• Iowa has seven weekend home games — three on Saturdays and four on Sundays — including six against Big Ten opponents. The Hawkeyes have games at Carver-Hawkeye Arena on a Saturday or Sunday in four of the final six weekends of the regular season.
• Iowa will play at Penn State on New Year’s Day. The Hawkeyes have played on New Year’s Day 10 previous times, most recently in 2017 against Michigan in Iowa City.
• Iowa will play at Minnesota on February 12. It’s the fourth consecutive year the Hawkeyes have played on Super Bowl Sunday.
• Five of Iowa’s final eight conference games will be on the road.
• Iowa will play Truman State in an exhibition on October 31. Former Iowa player Jeff Horner is in his fifth season as Truman State’s head coach.

The schedule:

October 31 — Truman State (exhibition)

November 7 — Bethune-Cookman

November 11 — North Carolina A&T

November 16 — at Seton Hall

November 21 — Omaha

November 25 — vs. Clemson ^

November 26 — vs. California or TCU ^

November 29 — Georgia Tech %

December 6 — vs. Duke ~

December 8 — Iowa State

December 11 — Wisconsin

December 17 — Southeast Missouri State

December 21 — Eastern Illinois

December 29 — at Nebraska

January 1 — at Penn State

January 5 — Indiana

January 8 — at Rutgers

January 12 — Michigan

January 15 — Maryland

January 18 — Northwestern

January 21 — at Ohio State

January 26 — at Michigan State

January 29 — Rutgers

February 4 — Illinois

February 9 — at Purdue

February 12 — at Minnesota

February 16 — Ohio State

February 19 — at Northwestern

February 22 — at Wisconsin

February 25 — Michigan State

February 28 — at Indiana

March 5 — Nebraska

% — ACC/Big Ten Men’s Basketball Challenge

~ — Jimmy V Classic

+ — Iowa Corn Cy-Hawk Series

^ — Emerald Coast Classic

Photo: Tony Perkins (right) is one of Iowa’s returning starters. (Brian Ray/hawkeyesports.com)