For the first few minutes of Iowa's opening-round game against Fairleigh Dickinson, it looked like Iowa was going to run away with it.
The Hawkeyes got up by 15 points early until the Knights came storming back and kept the game tight until they were forced to foul in the waning seconds of the game.
The nail-biting contest nearly boiled over when FDU hit a shot to get the game within one point. Jan Jensen was forced to use a timeout, and she delivered a stern yet effective message to her team during it.
Jensen stressed the need for belief in what got them there
Jensen has always been open and thorough in her responses to the media, and she rarely, if ever, dodges or avoids tough questions.
Postgame, she revealed the message she delivered to her team during the crucial timeout with nearly six minutes left in the game.
Fairleigh Dickinson cut Iowa’s lead to one with 6:16 left and forced a timeout. I asked Jan Jensen what the message to her team was. Always appreciate her thoroughness and transparency: pic.twitter.com/cboyJ6faJW
— David Eickholt (@DavidEickholt) March 21, 2026
247Sports Hawkeye insider David Eickholt asked Jensen about her message to the team during that timeout, and she said she was debating the tone.
She stated she had only a few seconds to decide whether to go full "fire and brimstone" and settled on a stern message that reminded her team who they are.
Jensen said she stressed that the team needs to believe in themselves and what got them there, and they needed to lean into the fact that they are bigger, faster, and stronger.
Jensen finished by saying that everyone was thinking about a minute ago or about "what-ifs," and she wanted them to think only about what was happening in the moment.
Jensen has a vast array of basketball knowledge from her many years as a player and coach, and her stern message to the squad is what helped push them over the finish line to advance to the next round.