Iowa Must Move Forward Without Emely Rodriguez

It wasn't surprising to see Iowa Hawkeyes guard Emely Rodriguez sit out of their game against No. 1 UConn. Head coach Jan Jensen hasn't had much to say about the status of the 6' sophomore other than the obvious.

Rodriguez was nursing an injury she sustained in Florida for the WBCA Showcase against Miami. After playing 16 minutes against No. 7 Baylor, she played just four against the Hurricanes.

Jensen originally listed Rodriguez as "day-to-day", but she later said there was a lot of moving pieces and much to figure out when it came to Rodriguez. That raised some eyebrows, and rightfully so.

As of December 18, Rodriguez was officially suspended from the team. Her suspension seemingly came out of nowhere, but Hawkeyes fans reacted accordingly when Jensen responded to a question saying Rodriguez was on the team, "as of right now."

Iowa Can't Rely On Emely Rodriguez Returning

NEWS: Iowa’s Emely Rodriguez will not be making the trip to New York with the team for their game against UConn, a source told @On3sports.

She’s currently on an indefinite suspension due to team violation of rules.

According to the source, Rodriguez has the opportunity to…
— Talia Goodman (@TaliaGoodmanWBB) December 18, 2025

According to On3's Talia Goodman, Rodriguez was suspended due to "team violation of rules." Nothing else was mentioned, nor has her name been brought up since the suspension a week before Christmas.

Goodman did note, "Rodriguez has the opportunity to rejoin the team if she recommits to the standards." At this point, everyone within the organization has kept things close to the chest when it comes to Rodriguez. Safe to say, no one expects her to rejoin the team.

Rodriguez transfered from UCF and appeared in just six games for Iowa. She's well on her way to another transfer portal in the offseason, something that has been expected in the modern era of college basketball.

Iowa Can Live Without Rodriguez

Emely Rodriguez and Jada Gyamfi are both listed as OUT on Iowa's availability report ahead of today's matinee against No. 1 Connecticut. pic.twitter.com/ElealMejWY
— Ethan Petrik (@ethan_petrik) December 20, 2025

While it's not ideal, Jensen has proved that her bench is deep enough where they don't necessarily need Rodriguez. Sure, she averaged nearly 12 points a game last year and started 19 games for the Knights, but she's far from a starter on this Hawkeyes team.

No matter what she did last year, her six turnovers against Baylor were eye-opening, to say the least. She only had one game without a turnover this year, and that came in her 13 minutes against Northern Iowa.

Rodriguez was a double digit scorer in a pair of the Hawkeyes lopsided victories, but she was only getting significant minutes due to how those games played out. When this team is healthy, they can easily go 8-9 deep and not even know Rodriguez is missing. That's not a knock on the sophomore, rather just goes to show how well prepared Jensen is when a situation like this arises.

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