Instant Reactions to Iowa Women's Basketball's Favorable Big Ten Slate

The Big Ten has announced the conference games for each of its women's basketball programs, and things seem to have broken nicely for the Iowa Hawkeyes on paper.

The Hawkeyes see each team in the conference at least once, with Nebraska being the lone home-and-away opponent. The rest of the matchups are as follows:

Home: Indiana, Maryland, Northwestern, Purdue, Rutgers, Wisconsin, UCLA, USC
Away: Illinois, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Ohio State, Penn State, Washington, Oregon

The away slate is manageable for Iowa, while they are going to have a chance to take down a few top contenders inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

Drawing the duo of LA programs at home is huge for Iowa

Mar 24, 2025; Los Angeles, California, USA; USC Trojans guard JuJu Watkins (12) during an NCAA Tournament second round game against the Mississippi State Bulldogs at Galen Center. Mandatory Credit: Robert Hanashiro-Imagn Images | Robert Hanashiro-Imagn Images

UCLA was utterly dominant last year on the way to a national championship. They saw star center Lauren Betts depart to the WNBA, but they are a program ready to reload. As for USC, the highly anticipated return of JuJu Watkins is coming after an ACL surgery.

Truthfully, if Iowa can go 1-1 against these two in what should be a raucous environment inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena, that has to be viewed as a success.

Other home games against Indiana, Northwestern, Purdue, Rutgers, and Wisconsin should be games Iowa is favored in, with Maryland lingering as a tough test on the home slate.

Michigan and Ohio State provide the toughest road tests

Iowa Hawkeyes guard Taylor Stremlow (1) celebrates Thursday, March 6, 2025, in a round two game at the 2025 TIAA Big Ten Women's Basketball Tournament between the Iowa Hawkeyes and the Michigan State Spartans at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. | Grace Smith/IndyStar / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Iowa caught a break with its road slate this upcoming season. The West Coast swing features games against Oregon and Washington, a duo the Hawkeyes swept last year.

Illinois, Michigan State, Minnesota, and Penn State should be another bunch of games Iowa can use to stack conference wins.

The fun begins with road trips to Ann Arbor and Columbus to take on Michigan and Ohio State, respectively. Despite Michigan finishing 28-7 last year, Iowa had their number, downing them in both matchups, including a Big Ten Tournament matchup.

The Hawkeyes took care of Ohio State, which finished 27-8, as well. Can Iowa sweep the two on the road after getting both at home last season? It's a mighty tall task.

Can Iowa replicate 2025-26's 15-3 record in Big Ten play?

Iowa head coach Jan Jensen talks to members of the media before her team’s practice March 20, 2026 ahead of the Iowa Hawkeyes’ First Round NCAA Tournament game at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City, Iowa. | Julia Hansen/Iowa City Press-Citizen / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Incredibly enough, Iowa's 2025-26 Big Ten slate saw them win seven games, drop three in a row, then rattle off eight victories. It was a year of streaks to get to 15-3 in conference play.

This schedule sets up for a repeat success. As I said, Iowa has four games that stand out: UCLA, USC, Michigan, and Ohio State. If Iowa can get out of those four games with a 2-2 mark, 15-3 is once again very much on the table.

What this Iowa team must avoid is the trap game, like they saw last year getting picked off by Minnesota. If Jan Jensen can avoid the bottom-of-the-conference trap games, this schedule sets up for another big number in the Iowa Big Ten win column.

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