Even after losing nine players from last year's roster, Jan Jensen isn't taking it easy on her new-look squad.
The Hawkeyes cruised through their non-conference schedule last season, winning nine of 11 games, with the only losses coming to rival Iowa State while the Cyclones were still ranked in the top 25 and No. 1 UConn. Iowa's only challenges were in the WBCA Showcase against No. 7 Baylor (Nov. 20), No. 10 Iowa State (Dec. 10), and UConn (Dec. 20), and Jensen is ramping up her efforts to challenge her team early and often this season.
A difficult non-conference schedule is a good early test for the new-look Hawkeyes
The program released part of its non-conference schedule in early August, which includes some very difficult games. The most notable are games at UConn (Nov. 8) in a home-and-away series over the next two seasons and vs. Vanderbilt (Nov. 15) in another home-and-away series in back-to-back weeks. The program didn't stop there and has rounded out the slate by accepting an invitation to a prominent basketball tournament in the Bahamas.
The nonconference schedule you've been waiting for. 🐤 pic.twitter.com/KQtf31VAoO
— Iowa Women's Basketball (@IowaWBB) August 25, 2026
Iowa accepted an invitation to the Baha Mar Hoops Tournament in Nassau, Bahamas, with three of the four teams already announced. Excluding the mystery team, Iowa could play Utah or Toledo on November 23 and 25 when it travels to the Bahamas for the tournament. Iowa also scheduled Maryville University for an exhibition game to begin the season. Maryville is a Division II private university in St. Louis that competes in the Great Lakes Valley Conference. Maryville finished with an impressive 25-7 overall record last season, including a huge upset win over Missouri during their exhibition.
The Utah women's basketball team finished last season with a 19-13 (10-8 Big 12) record, good for seventh place in the Big 12. They lost 72-58 to Eastern Kentucky in the first round of the WBIT last season. Toledo women's basketball finished last season with a 19-15 (9-9 MAC) record last season, good for a sixth-place Mid-American Conference finish. Despite average seasons for both squads, tournament play offers no guaranteed victories, and Iowa will have to mesh quickly if they want to come away with the title.
Iowa lost three starters to graduation (Hannah Stuelke, Kylie Feuerbach, Taylor McCabe), and had to replace nine total players after five entered the transfer portal, which is no easy task. Scheduling UConn, Vanderbilt, and a tournament all in the first month of the season is an extremely bold strategy, and it will give us a good early indicator of how well the new-look squad has gelled.
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