After a 78-68 loss to now-No. 19 Tennessee on Saturday, Iowa’s first of the season, the No. 21 Hawkeye women’s basketball team is readying itself for Wednesday’s rivalry game against Iowa State, part of the Iowa Corn Cy-Hawk Series.
Iowa leads the series against the Cyclones, 31-23 overall, including 8-2 in the last 10 seasons. The Hawkeyes have also won eight-consecutive games against Iowa State when playing at home, dating back to Dec. 7, 2008.
The Cyclones are ranked higher than Iowa in both the Associated Press and WBCA Coaches polls, though, coming in at No. 18 and No. 19 respectively, compared to Iowa’s No. 21 and No. 20.
Despite the rivalry, new head coach Jan Jensen expressed respect and admiration for Iowa State and its players, coached by Bill Fennelly.
“If you asked all coaches in this big rivalry, there’s much more respect than the fanbase will let you believe,” Jensen said during a news conference. “Do we want to win it? Absolutely. But we recruit a lot of the same kids. Bill’s done it a long time, he’s great. His staff, I know them well. This game will be big, for sure, but I grew up in the state. Bill did too. Everybody else will make it a lot bigger.”
Jensen also noted the Cyclones’ success as a program, despite losses to Northern Iowa and South Carolina this season.
“They’re good now,” Jensen said. “I know they lost a couple, but he said it best with those in-state rivalry games. UNI is good. UNI is one of the best shooting teams in the country. South Carolina, they just took it to TCU. They got just about everybody back.”
Iowa State finished its 2023-24 campaign 21-12 overall. Despite finishing sixth in the 14-team Big 12, the Cyclones advanced all the way to the conference championship, falling 70-53 to Texas in the final game. But they still secured a spot in the NCAA Tournament, where they were eliminated in the second round by Stanford in an 87-81 overtime loss.
Iowa had a much different last season with head coach Lisa Bluder in her final year, aided by the sharpshooting of veteran guard Caitlin Clark, leading the Hawkeyes to 34-5 overall.
Iowa advanced to the Big Ten conference championship where, in overtime, the Hawkeyes defeated Nebraska 94-89 for the crown. Iowa’s run didn’t end until the NCAA title game, where the Hawkeyes were eliminated by an undefeated South Carolina, 87-75.
Both teams return several key players, with Iowa third-year Hannah Stuelke expected to be a starter as usual, along with the rise of fourth-year Addison O’Grady, who has had two double-doubles this season alone. Fourth-year Villanova transfer Lucy Olsen is also expected to make a big impact, leading Iowa in points per game with 18.1 and rounding it out as a spread-out Hawkeye threat.
Iowa State returns second-year Audi Crooks, a key center for the team averaging 19.8 points per game. Crooks recorded the most historic season to date by a freshman for the program, including a team-high 635 points, averaging 19.2 points per game for the season.
Other notable returners include fifth-year Emily Ryan, who has played in all 10 games for the Cyclones so far, averaging 7.2 assists and 2.6 steals per game.
Iowa is a heavy favorite by analysts, with a 78.1 percent chance of victory, according to ESPN Analytics. But with both teams 4-1 in their last five contests and putting up similar stats, not to mention several returning stars for both teams, it’s anybody’s game going into Wednesday.
Jensen expressed the advantage of a home court will not be enough on its own to give the Hawkeyes the crucial ranked win.
“They’re really good, very deserving for all their preseason honors,” Jensen said. “They’ve tested themselves. They played the very best, they played in a hard environment, Northern Iowa. There’s no advantage here for us, just a lot of respect. We’re going to have to play a heck of a lot better to have a great game, put it in a position to be favorable for us.”
That comes after a grisly 30 team turnovers to Tennessee, and it’s difficult to win games that way. But with cleaner passes and ball security in the paint, a ranked win on Wednesday provides serious momentum back on pace into the rest of the season — continuing with No. 17 Michigan State in East Lansing on Sunday.
The in-state rivalry game will commence at 8:00 p.m. and is set to receive coverage from both FS1 and the Hawkeye Radio Network.