When the Hawkeyes take the floor tonight for the Big Ten Tournament, they want to start with a clean slate after their last performance.

Iowa will begin play in the quarterfinals, and they want to avenge their overtime loss at Rutgers on March 1.

“I don’t think we played up to our potential in that game,” head coach Lisa Bluder said. “And what we’ve done in the past is, when we haven’t played well or played up to our potential, we bounce back and play pretty well the next couple of games, and I’m hoping that trend holds true here.”

Though the Big Ten is a competitive conference, the Hawkeyes have had success against the top teams on their schedule. The Hawkeyes split their games against the tournament’s No. 1 seed Maryland, winning 66-61 at home Jan. 9 and losing 93-59 on the road Feb. 13.

The No. 2 seed, Northwestern, was demolished by the Hawkeyes Jan. 5 in Evanston, 77-51. The No. 4 seed, Indiana, took the Hawkeyes into overtime but lost to Iowa on Jan. 12, 91-85.

“This team has worked so hard, and we proved that we can really hang with anybody in the Big Ten,” senior guard Makenzie Meyer said. “So, it’s going to be a fun, competitive tournament.”

With the unpredictability of a tournament setting, the Hawkeyes are prepared to go up against any team that comes their way.

“I mean, we know to prepare for the first two days,” senior guard Kathleen Doyle said. “And then we kind of let the coaches [prepare], and they figure it all out, and they’re really good at that. They’re super experienced, and we just take it game by game as players and let the coaches worry about the scenarios.”

Related: Looking back at a strong regular season for Iowa women’s basketball

Taking it game by game will also mean taking it day by day for the players, because if they go to the championship game, they will have to play three games in three days.

“It’s taxing, and you have to be mentally and physically prepared every single day and it takes a lot of grit,” Doyle said. “So, I think that resilience is going to be essential to having a successful weekend.”

According to the NCAA Women’s Basketball Selection committee March 2, the Hawkeyes are currently the 13th overall team in the NCAA Tournament, meaning they are a No. 4 seed. The top 16 teams host the first and second of the tournament.

The performance that the Hawkeyes have in the Big Ten Tournament will probably not have a drastic impact on the seed they get in the NCAA Tournament, but it could easily determine whether they get a chance to play home games or not.

“I think a good showing in the Big Ten will definitely help us,” Bluder said. “I don’t want to put a whole lot of pressure on the team about the whole Ohio State [a possible opponent on Friday] game. I think that’s not really that good [of] a thing to do. I would hope that the NCAA Selection Committee would look at the body of our work over 29 games and not just focus on the Big Ten Tournament.

“I think a good showing in the Big Ten Tournament could even get us up to a two seed.”