Iowa Hawkeyes at Carver-Hawkeye Arena
The Hawkeyes men's basketball team calls Carver-Hawkeye Arena home. The Iowa City venue opened in January 1983 and has a capacity of approximately 15,500. The arena is named after late University of Iowa supporter Roy Carver.
The official student section is called the Hawks Nest, which began as a student committee on athletics in 2008 before transitioning into a membership-based group in 2013. There is a Hawks Nest committee devoted specifically to the men's and women's basketball teams. The group's rules include knowing "The Victory Polka" and university fight song as well as standing throughout the duration of games.
Iowa Hawkeyes Men's Basketball History
Iowa has competed in men's basketball since 1892, and the team has been a member of the Big Ten since 1917. The Hawkeyes previously competed as an independent from 1892 to 1898 before spending time in the Western Conference from 1901 to 1917.
Head coach Fran McCaffery arrived in Iowa in 2010. McCaffery is second to the program's all-time winningest head coach Tom Davis, who went 269-140 from 1987 to 1999 with nine NCAA tournament trips. Under Davis, the Hawkeyes didn't lose until the second round in five of those nine appearances, and the team also made two Sweet 16 appearances, in 1988 and 1999.
Former Hawkeyes coaches to be inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame are Sam Barry (1923-29), Ralph Miller (1965-70), Lute Olson (1975-83) and George Raveling (1984-86). Olson's Iowa squads made it to the NCAA tournament in five consecutive seasons, and in 1980 made it as far as the Final Four.
One Hawkeye to go in the first round of the NBA draft was Ricky Davis, who was selected 21st overall in 1998. Forward Tyler Cook landed with the Cleveland Cavaliers after going undrafted out of Iowa in the 2019 NBA draft. Other Hawkeyes to go in the first round of an NBA draft include B.J. Armstrong, Acie Earl, Kevin Kunnert and Ronnie Lester.