Zags, Iowa officially announce December game in South Dakota

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — The Zags are scheduled to visit the Pentagon this season.

No, not that one.

Gonzaga and Iowa on Monday officially announced a men's basketball matchup between two teams ranked in the top 5 in the CBS Sports Top 25 ranking. The game is scheduled for Dec. 19 at 9 a.m. PST at the Sanford Pentagon, and slated to be broadcast by CBS (KREM).

Gonzaga is ranked No. 1, Iowa No. 5 by CBS Sports.

A limited number of tickets will go on sale later. Masks are required for all spectators and will be available for free at the door. The Sanford Pentagon will work closely with the schools and individual states and be ready to adjust based on guidelines and safety measures for all involved.

All-American center Luka Garza is back for his senior season with Iowa, and the Hawkeyes have six other players returning with starting experience, including upperclassmen all-conference honorees Jordan Bohannon and Joe Wieskamp, and Connor McCaffery, who led all Division I players in assist-to-turnover ratio a year ago.

Iowa finished 20-11 last season, 11-9 and fifth in the Big Ten. The Hawkeyes were scheduled to play Minnesota in the Big Ten Tournament before the game and tournament were cancelled due to COVID-19 concerns.

Gonzaga, of course, finished 31-2 last season, won the West Coast Conference tournament and was a projected No. 1 seed in the NCAAs before that event was cancelled.

Gonzaga and Iowa have met three times, with the Zags winning the last meeting, 87-68, in the second round of the 2015 NCAA Tournament in Seattle. Iowa won the first two meetings, in Iowa City in 1984 (62-40) and in Spokane in 1985 (84-64).

The Sanford Pentagon is billed as "the cornerstone" of the Sanford Sports Complex in Sioux Falls. The Sanford Pentagon is a 160,000-square-foot, five-sided facility featuring nine basketball courts, including the 1950s/1960s-inspired Heritage Court. The venue combines state-of-the-art amenities—including high-definition video boards and executive suites with period-specific finishes that are a nod to the nostalgic days of basketball.

The 3,200-seat Pentagon is home to Sanford POWER Basketball Academy, Sanford POWER Volleyball Academy, the NBA G League’s Sioux Falls Skyforce, the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference women’s and men’s basketball tournaments and the South Dakota High School Basketball Hall of Fame.