Iowa freshman Taylor Stremlow: ‘We’ve grown immensely’ in practice
The Wisconsin native has been playing in the backcourt early in the Jan Jensen era and is of five true freshmen on the roster.
Although she’s moved on to greener basketball pastures, it didn’t take long for Caitlin Clark to make an appearance on Thursday’s Big Ten basketball schedule release show.
The Hawkeyes were among the first women’s basketball teams to be mentioned and have their schedule revealed during the hour-long program on Big Ten Network. The conversation centered on this being the first slate Iowa will encounter post-Clark. When diving further into Iowa’s conference schedule, it’s clear there is some Clark carryover in other areas too.
With that, here are three takeaways from the Hawkeyes’ first league schedule inside the expanded Big Ten.
Iowa women’s basketball will have all the stops pulled out for its two home matchups vs. the highly ranked Los Angeles schools.
Assuming Iowa is holding its own when February rolls around, the Hawkeyes will have two grand stages to bolster confidence, their NCAA Tournament resume and more.
Iowa will host USC and national player of the year candidate JuJu Watkins on Feb. 2, followed by a Feb. 23 visit from projected No. 1 seed UCLA. Both of those contests fall on Sundays, presenting Carver-Hawkeye Arena with two great chances to create raucous, hostile environments. The Trojans and Bruins have Big Ten title aspirations in their first years here, and avoiding an Iowa upset late in the season could have a role in determining that.
Expecting Iowa to match last season’s incredible home product again this year feels somewhat unreasonable, mainly because Clark created an absurd standard in that area and many others. But given the newness of USC and UCLA and their impressive women’s basketball prowess, it’s easy to see both of these games being sellouts with upset potential.
Speaking of Sundays, the Hawkeyes were rewarded handsomely with several weekend home games.
This feels like where the Clark carryover really shines through. Not only will Iowa get its two toughest conference home matchups on the weekend, the Hawkeyes have four more Sunday contests inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena after Christmas. Overall, that means Iowa will play 67% of its Big Ten home games on the weekend.
That hardly feels coincidental given the unprecedented home crowds Iowa produced last season. Sunday has always been the sport’s premier day. And even with Clark gone, it’s clear the Big Ten values Iowa enough to give Carver-Hawkeye Arena several chances to put on its best face. Here are the six Big Ten home games Iowa will have on Sundays.
- Dec. 29: vs. Purdue
- Jan. 5: vs. Maryland
- Jan. 12: vs. Indiana
- Feb. 2: vs. USC
- Feb. 23: vs. UCLA
- March 2: vs. Wisconsin
Some big opportunities Iowa will be happy to have its home-court advantage for, no doubt.
It’s imperative Iowa stacks wins early in conference play because the Hawkeyes face a daunting February.
Of the nine other Big Ten teams listed in Charlie Creme’s ESPN preseason bracketology aside from Iowa, the Hawkeyes face six of those in February alone. Four of those will come on the road. Games, in particular, vs. USC (Feb. 2), at Minnesota (Feb. 6), at Nebraska (Feb. 10) at Ohio State (Feb. 17), vs. UCLA (Feb. 23) and at Michigan (Feb. 26) could all carry some kind of NCAA Tournament implications.
The hope for Iowa is its roster has jelled to perfection by the time that daunting stretch rolls around, but the Hawkeyes can’t waste time finding their footing inside the Big Ten. There are plenty of late chances to make statements should postseason clarity of any kind be needed. But showing up to February with a pedestrian record could lead to a tough finish
See the complete 2024-25 Iowa women’s basketball schedule
- Oct. 30: vs. Missouri Western (exhibition)
- Nov. 6: vs. Northern Illinois
- Nov. 10: vs. Virginia Tech (Charlotte)
- Nov. 13: vs. Toledo
- Nov. 17: at Drake
- Nov. 20: vs. Kansas (Sioux Falls)
- Nov. 24: vs. Washington State
- Nov. 28: vs. Rhode Island (Cancun Challenge)
- Nov. 29: vs. BYU (Cancun Challenge)
- Dec. 7: vs. Tennessee (Brooklyn)
- Dec. 11: vs. Iowa State
- Dec. 15: at Michigan State
- Dec. 20: vs. Northern Iowa
- Dec. 29: vs. Purdue
- Jan. 1: at Penn State
- Jan. 5: vs. Maryland
- Jan. 9: at Illinois
- Jan. 12: vs. Indiana
- Jan. 16: vs. Nebraska
- Jan. 19: at Oregon
- Jan. 22: at Washington
- Jan. 28: vs. Northwestern
- Feb. 2: vs. USC
- Feb. 6: at Minnesota
- Feb. 10: at Nebraska
- Feb. 13: vs. Rutgers
- Feb. 17: at Ohio State
- Feb. 23: vs. UCLA
- Feb. 26: at Michigan
- March 2: vs. Wisconsin
Dargan Southard is a sports trending reporter and covers Iowa athletics for the Des Moines Register and HawkCentral.com. Email him at msouthard@gannett.com or follow him on Twitter at @Dargan_Southard.
