Strengthening of IU basketball schedule continues with Empire Classic NYC trip in 2023-24
BORDEN – IU basketball will return to New York in the 2023-24 season, as part of the Empire Classic.
IndyStar confirmed Thursday the Hoosiers will participate in the four-team tournament-style event alongside Texas, UConn and Louisville. Pairings have yet to be announced.
This will be IU's first appearance in the Classic since it was rebranded and moved to the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. IU appeared in what was then called the 2K Sports Classic in 2013, defeating Washington before losing to UConn at Madison Square Garden.
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Participation in the event reinforces a promise IU coach Mike Woodson made to beef up the Hoosiers' nonconference schedules during his tenure.
Woodson played a relatively soft nonconference schedule in his first season, designed, he said, not to stress his players too greatly while adjusted to his system and style.
But he also promised that, when he thought his program ready for it, he would turn up the temperature in nonconference scheduling. He's since made good on that promise.
In addition to commitments in the Gavitt Games (likely on the road) and the ACC/Big Ten Challenge (likely at home), the Hoosiers are also scheduled to play at Kansas next season. Woodson more or less confirmed during a public appearance Wednesday at Indiana's annual booster dinner at Huber's Orchard and Winery in Borden the Hoosiers will also play Arizona in Las Vegas in December as well.
IU will host Kansas in the return leg of that series in 2023. Now, it has a tough New York trip on the '23-'24 nonconference schedule, as Woodson holds to his promise of tougher Novembers and Decembers.
Follow IndyStar reporter Zach Osterman on Twitter: @ZachOsterman.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indiana basketball will play to NYC's 2023-24 season's Empire Classic
