Addie Deal’s homecoming will be her first-career start as a Hawkeye as the Iowa women’s basketball team makes the trip west to face USC on Thursday, Jan. 29, and UCLA on Sunday, Feb. 1. Head coach Jan Jensen confirmed the move while talking with reporters on Tuesday after the team announced starting guard Taylor McCabe will miss the rest of the season due to an ACL injury. 

“She’ll meet the moment, and I just think you just do what the next thing is ahead of you,” Jensen said. “And you just want them ready for that next opportunity, and she’s ready for that.” 

Fresh off a career-high 20 points against Ohio State in Iowa’s last game, Deal is averaging 6.6 points per game on 46.8 percent shooting from the floor and 34.8 percent from distance. Despite a slow start, Jensen never questioned the freshman’s confidence. She won’t give Deal a classic pep talk – the coach’s outward belief is enough. 

“She knows I’ve believed she’s got this since the minute I recruited her,” Jensen said. 

Second-year guard Taylor Stremlow will continue to come off the bench after starting seven games earlier this season. She’s averaging four points, two assists, and two rebounds per game. 

Iowa’s West Coast trip aims to improve on last year’s Pacific Coast swing, where the Hawkeyes posted two polarizing results – a one-point loss to Oregon, where Iowa scored its lowest point total of the season with 49, and a 25-point blowout win over Washington. 

Jensen maintained Iowa’s “business as usual” approach, but the California vacation will give the Hawkeyes a chance to “thaw out” from Iowa’s freezing temperatures, enjoy a meal on Santa Monica Boulevard, and experience unique team bonding in the midst of the Big Ten schedule. 

The Hawkeyes are still undefeated in the conference, but will face a potential trap game visiting the Trojans. USC is without star JuJu Watkins for the season due to injury and sits at 11-9 overall and ranks 12th in the Big Ten with a 3-6 mark. Jensen isn’t blinded by these mediocre numbers, calling USC’s record “completely misleading.” 

USC has dropped five of its last six games, but its average margin of defeat in that stretch is just five points, including six-point losses to ranked Michigan and Michigan State teams.

Jensen explained how USC tends to run a lot of set plays and features a few taller guards, most notably 6-foot-1 freshman Jazzy Davidson. Hailing from Clackamas, Oregon, Davidson was a McDonald’s All-American back in high school and leads USC with 16 points per game. She also leads the Trojans in rebounds (6.3), assists (4.0), and blocks (2.5) per game. 

Senior guard Kara Dunn stands at 5-11 and ranks second on the team with 15.4 points per game. Sophomore guard Kennedy Smith is 6-1, and Jensen referred to her as one of the Trojans’ best defenders and a post-up option on offense. 

“There’s a lot of versatility they have that will challenge us to defend them,” Jensen said. 

Jensen mentioned reserve guards like second-year Teagan Mallegni and Callie Levin might see action if necessary to accommodate for such height discrepancy. 

USC ranks fifth in the Big Ten in points allowed per game (59.8) and places first in blocks per game (6.1) and eighth in rebounding (38). 

The history between Iowa and USC features just three prior matches, with the Hawkeyes sweeping the trio, including a 76-69 triumph last year at Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Caitlin Clark’s jersey retirement day.  

The Hawkeyes battle the Trojans on Jan. 29 at 8 p.m. Central Time on Peacock. 

McCabe Injury Details 

Jensen shed some light on McCabe’s injury, noting the senior visited her Sunday night after the MRI on her left knee.  The pair knew the diagnosis then, and the head coach lauded McCabe for being sensible despite the dire circumstances. 

“I just reiterated, ‘You will heal, it can be fixed,’” Jensen said. “There are a lot of things sometimes, tough news, diagnoses, and so forth. And she’s so grounded that she does get that. We discussed how you have to let all those emotions happen.” 

Jensen said these feelings include envy, resentment, and sadness – all part of the grieving process. McCabe told the team the news on Monday and witnessed a  “lot of tears.” 

“She’s so beloved,” Jensen said. 

McCabe’s younger sister, Peyton, is a second-year guard at Drake and suffered a potentially severe right ankle injury the same day in the Bulldogs’ game against Murray State. McCabe’s mother, Dana, was in attendance in Iowa City to watch Taylor, Jensen said, while McCabe’s father, Ryan, was at an indoor track meet for their younger brothers. 

Jensen said that when Taylor heard the news of her sister’s injury, Taylor told her mom to make the drive to Des Moines to visit, while Taylor stayed behind. 

“There’s definitely worse things, but it’s hard to kind of swallow at the moment,” Jensen said. “But they’re doing well, but certainly keeping all of them in our thoughts and prayers.”