Iowa women’s basketball once again tapped for Ally Tipoff in Charlotte
Iowa women’s basketball will once again take center stage next season, even after its brightest star presumably heads to Indiana to start her WNBA career.
The Hawkeyes have been tapped for the second iteration of the Ally Tipoff at the Spectrum Center in Charlotte. The Ally Tipoff — an analog to the Champions Classic played by Duke, Kentucky, Kansas, and Michigan State on the men’s college basketball side — will feature Iowa playing Virginia Tech in a rematch of last year’s inaugural Ally Tipoff and South Carolina playing NC State on Nov. 10, 2024.
Iowa defeated the Hokies 80-76 behind 44 points from Caitlin Clark in November this season. Clark went on to break multiple NCAA scoring records over the course of the year. Iowa went 29-4 (15-3 Big Ten) and won the Big Ten Tournament, while Virginia Tech finished 24-7 (14-4 ACC) to win the regular-season conference title and lost to eventual ACC Tournament winner Notre Dame.
“Ally Tipoff is THE ‘tipoff’ event for the women’s college basketball season,” Ally head of sports and entertainment marketing Stephanie Marciano said in a statement. “Last year’s success proved what we at Ally talk about all the time — the insatiable fan demand that’s out there for women’s sports, especially for these major matchups early in the season. Along with our partners at Charlotte Sports and ESPN, we cannot wait to watch four of the top programs in the country compete in this doubleheader. The Queen City and every fan around the country who tunes in will not be disappointed.”
Iowa coach Lisa Bluder also expressed her enthusiasm to return.
“We are excited to once again play in the Ally Tipoff,” Bluder said in the release. “The tipoff was one of the most exciting events of the early season for us Hawkeyes to compete in. The arena, the support, the competition, the treatment of our athletes was all first rate. We look forward to returning to Charlotte!”
It will be a new-look Hawkeye team without Clark at the helm, but Bluder is hoping she has built a foundation that goes beyond one player. The Ally Tipoff will give her an early opportunity to put that to the test against a Hokies team that made the Final Four in 2023 and is hoping for a similar run this year.