The Iowa men’s basketball team will be one of eight squads in November’s Cancún Challenge in Mexico, according to a release.

The tournament will consist of two four-team divisions and will begin in the United States on Nov. 15 and 17. Each team in the Riviera Division — which includes Iowa — will host two games against schools in the Mayan Division.

The teams will then travel to Cancún to play a pair of games at the Moon Palace Resort on Nov. 20-21. The hotel’s ballroom will serve as the arena, giving fans an "up-close perspective of their team," the release said. Each division will have its own champion.

The Riviera Division has Iowa, DePaul, Western Kentucky, and Wichita State.

The Mayan Division features Howard, Austin Peay State, Western Carolina, and Gardner-Webb.

"It’s a group of teams that have a good core of young talent and excellent recruiting classes coming into the programs," tournament Director Brent Amick said in the release.

An Iowa Cancún Challenge title would mark the second-straight year in which the tournament champion came from the Big Ten; Illinois beat Southern Illinois-Edwardsville, Lipscomb, Richmond, and Illinois State to win the tournament in November 2011.

More information can be found at cancunchallenge.net.

— by Seth Roberts