Sydney Affolter is ready for the next step after her groundbreaking junior season
Sydney Affolter of Iowa meets with the media on July 16, 2024.
IOWA CITY — Most of the Iowa women’s basketball team’s non-league schedule had already been leaked by the time the official announcement came through Thursday. But there’s something aesthetically pleasing about seeing the entire schedule as a whole.
Every regular season game in Jan Jensen’s first season as head coach is now on the schedule, with the only thing left to figure out being the dates and times for Big Ten games. It’s a challenging but doable schedule that should give the Hawkeyes time to find their feet after the departure of such an important senior class.
The Hawkeyes will begin play on October 30 with a preseason game against Missouri Western before hosting Northern Illinois for the season opener on November 6.
Here are three things that stand out about Iowa’s non-conference schedule.
Several chances for the Hawkeyes to make an early impact without being overwhelmed
It would have been a little unwise to burden itself with daunting tasks the year after a significant coaching change and roster turnover. Iowa seems to have found the perfect balance, at least on paper.
Three matchups against the Big 12 – plus one each against the ACC and SEC – could favor the Hawkeyes in all of them. Like Iowa, Virginia Tech (November 10) and Tennessee (December 7) are currently working on new coaches. BYU (November 29) struggled to make it to the WBIT last season in its first Big 12 season, and Kansas (November 20) has released three of its top four scorers from last season’s NCAA tournament team. Iowa State may be the Hawkeyes’ toughest opponent outside of the Con, but Iowa gets its home game on December 11 in a warm atmosphere.
Drake (Nov. 17) and new West Coast Conference member Washington State (Nov. 24) are the best of the rest, along with very winnable games against Northern Illinois (Nov. 6), Toledo (Nov. 13), Rhode Island (Nov. 28) and Northern Iowa (Dec. 20). A 9-2 record to start Big Ten play seems attainable.
Jan Jensen’s first visit as head coach at her alma mater could be a stepping stone
Jensen has ventured into Drake’s Knapp Center countless times wearing Iowa’s colors, but never as a head coach. With her jersey hanging in the rafters, Jensen will look to lead the Hawkeyes to their sixth straight victory over the Bulldogs.
The Nov. 17 road game in Des Moines is Iowa’s only non-conference road game. It’s the second of three consecutive Sundays in November that Iowa will play before the Hawkeyes head to Mexico for the Cancun Challenge. Iowa has outshone its in-state rivals of late and doesn’t plan on changing things up this year.
How the Hawkeyes finish December could be a key moment in a long season
The goal of every college basketball program is to head into the holiday break feeling good, but for the Hawkeyes, that will be even more important considering what their final stretch of non-conference play looks like.
After playing four games in 10 days between Nov. 20-29, Iowa will face Tennessee in Brooklyn, NY, host a likely higher-ranked Iowa State team and face UNI for two weeks in December. All three of those games are significant, and a 3-0 finish there could catapult Iowa into its first strengthened Big Ten season with plenty of confidence.
For the past few seasons, the expectations for Iowa’s women’s basketball team have been clearly defined, with Caitlin Clark calling the shots. This season, all is not set in stone, meaning a fast start could instill the confidence these Hawkeyes need to deliver a strong season.
Iowa Women’s Basketball 2024-25 Non-Conference Schedule
- October 30: vs. Missouri Western (Drama)
- 6 November: against Northern Illinois
- 10 November: against Virginia Tech (Charlotte)
- 13 November: against Toledo
- 17 November: at Drake
- 20 November: against Kansas (Sioux Falls)
- 24 November: against the State of Washington
- 28 November: against Rhode Island (Cancun Challenge)
- 29 November: against BYU (Cancun Challenge)
- December 7: against Tennessee (Brooklyn)
- December 11: against Iowa State
- December 20: against Northern Iowa
Dargan Southard is a sports reporter who covers Iowa track and field for the Des Moines Register and HawkCentral.com. You can email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter at @Dargan_Southard.
