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IOWA BASKETBALL: How Whitney Jennings’ Transfer Affects Hawkeyes

By Derek Helling

Jan 16, 2016; East Lansing, MI, USA; Iowa Hawkeyes guard Whitney Jennings (15) brings the ball up court during the1st half of a game against the Michigan State Spartans at Jack Breslin Student Events Center. Mandatory Credit: Mike Carter-USA TODAY Sports
Jan 16, 2016; East Lansing, MI, USA; Iowa Hawkeyes guard Whitney Jennings (15) brings the ball up court during the1st half of a game against the Michigan State Spartans at Jack Breslin Student Events Center. Mandatory Credit: Mike Carter-USA TODAY Sports /
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Iowa basketball has announced that guard Whitney Jennings will transfer. This forces the Hawkeyes to venture forward without her experience and heavy contributions on the court.

Despite the fact that Jennings just concluded her sophomore year, she was one of the more experienced players on the court for Iowa in 2015-16. Jennings logged 31 starts and significant minutes in every game as a freshman. During her frosh campaign, she recorded more made 3-point baskets than all but two other freshmen in Iowa women’s basketball history and also nabbed the fourth-most steals in program history for a freshman.

She added to that with a stellar performance in her sophomore season. She again made 31 starts, but her minutes average went up by almost two minutes per game. While her shooting percentages went down, her total points went up slightly and she was much more of a force on the boards, upping her rebounds by 33 as compared to her freshman year.

For a player who has been so involved in every game to transfer has been nearly unheard of during women’s head coach Lisa Bluder’s tenure. Jennings made clear her motivation for the transfer in the university press release.

"“I want to thank coach [Lisa] Bluder and Iowa women’s basketball for the tremendous opportunity, but [I] have decided to continue my academic and basketball career at a place closer to home.”"

Certainly Jennings is free to play basketball and take classes anywhere she chooses, and being close to family is obviously something that she values highly. The rest of the Hawkeyes remaining in Iowa City will have to make up for her contributions and minutes, however.

The obvious “next woman up” for Iowa is guard Alexa Kastanek, who will be a senior in 2016-17. Kastanek’s minutes in 2015-16 more than doubled compared to 2014-15, and so did her production across the board. In 33 games which included 20 starts as a junior, Kastanek averaged eight points, 2.24 assists, and 1.94 rebounds per game. Additionally, she shot nearly 40 percent from the field and 36 percent from 3-point range.

Inserting Kastanek into the starting lineup will create a void in reserve minutes for 2016-17. That is the unknown for the Hawkeyes right now. It’s highly possible that incoming freshman Makenzie Mayer could see a lot of the 20.6 minutes per game that Kastanek occupied as a junior. Mayer’s size and skill fit that description. The other likely candidate is Christina Buttenham, who as a sophomore in 2015-16 averaged 15.5 minutes, three points and 2.7 rebounds in 31 games.

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Also leaving Iowa is Tagyn Larson, who was a freshman in 2015-16. Despite being highly heralded as a recruit, Larson only averaged two minutes per contest over five games. While these transfers do leave two open scholarships for the Hawkeyes, it’s unlikely that Iowa will add before the start of the 2016-17 season because all scholarship-worthy players have already committed at this point.

Even with Jennings, getting back to contending for a Big 10 championship and the NCAA tournament was going to be a challenge for Iowa. Replacing Jennings just adds an unexpected dimension to that challenge.

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