Jan Jensen Outlines Two Reasons Why Iowa Lost To USC

Heading to California and losing their mid-week game certainly wasn't on the Iowa Hawkeyes bingo card.

Hawkeyes fans could've lived with losing to No. 2 UCLA, but falling to unranked USC is an entirely different ballgame.

Second-year head coach Jan Jensen took part in her post-game media availability as she knew fans would be expecting answers.

The last thing Jensen wanted to do was give excuses, and she's far from that type of coach. At the end of the day, she gave USC their credit but pinpointed two reasons why the Hawkeyes fell short in their first West Coast game of the week.

Jensen On Missing Taylor McCabe

Jan Jensen outlined the unseen impact of losing senior Taylor McCabe after the 81-69 loss to USC: “They got us at a really good time. The importance of a senior leader, that’s been to two Final Fours, that’s been a part of championships, that is one of our best defenders … she…
— Chad Leistikow🆑 (@ChadLeistikow) January 30, 2026

When news broke that McCabe would be missing not just the end of her senior season, but her career, it sent shockwaves through this program. Iowa hasn't had to play without McCabe in a long, long time, and that's something Jensen knew would take a lot of time to adjust to.

"They got us at a really good time. The importance of a senior leader, that’s been to two Final Fours, that’s been a part of championships, that is one of our best defenders … she calms the waters when things like this happen. That’s what we were missing tonight," she said.

Iowa head coach Jan Jensen talks to her team in a timeout during a basketball game against the Ohio State Buckeyes Jan. 25, 2026 at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City, Iowa. | Julia Hansen/Iowa City Press-Citizen / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Sure, Addie Deal seemed prepared to make her first career start, but she was nowhere near the same player that showed up when McCabe went down with an injury. Deal, who scored a career high against the No. 12 team in the country, was held scoreless against a 4-6 Trojans team.

Jensen On Where Things Went Wrong

More Jan Jensen from tonight: She thought the players were a little thrown off by the very empty feel of the Galen Center, actually might prefer a bigger crowd at UCLA on Sunday.

“I felt like we started out a little bit quiet, and I think that it's odd for a team that plays in…
— Chad Leistikow🆑 (@ChadLeistikow) January 30, 2026

"I felt like we started out a little bit quiet, and I think that it's odd for a team that plays in front of a lot of people," she added. "But we did not handle the environment, and I think we needed to use that to our advantage a little bit, playing for all the folks back home that really come out and support us. But I thought we were just really as quiet as the gym was to start the game.”

Iowa trailed by as many as 22 points as they failed to get anything going. Chit-Chat Wright played the entire 40 minutes but played an extremely well-rounded game despite shooting 3-for-11 from the field.

The Hawkeyes are going to need everyone to use this loss as motivation heading into Feb. 1. In what should've been the biggest game of the season, Iowa is now just hoping they don't get blown out or embarrassed by the nation's second-best team.

Don't forget to bookmark Iowa Hawkeyes on SI for the latest news. exclusive interviews, recruiting coverage and more!