Iowa Coach Jan Jensen Reveals the ‘Key’ to Surviving UConn
The No. 11-ranked Iowa Hawkeyes women's basketball team has the toughest test of its 2025-26 season on December 20, when it faces the No. 1-ranked UConn Huskies squad that still hasn't lost a game this year.
Geno Auriemma's squads are perennial national championship contenders. However, there's a strong case to be made that this is one of his best teams in a long time, even if it comes one year after winning a national championship with a roster that was led by guard superstar Paige Bueckers.
Jan Jensen Heaps Praise Upon UConn Before Iowa Showdown
Iowa second-year head coach Jan Jensen spoke with the media on December 16 and shared several strong message about the Huskies team her Hawkeyes must face on Saturday.
"I think this team has the potential to go down as one of Geno's best teams. Every single one of them, even the ones that come off the bench — [they] are deep off the bench — are really, really good," Jensen said, per a YouTube video from Hawk Central. "I think Sarah Strong is extremely special. I mean, everything everybody thought she was in high school, she has been. But this particular year, she plays the four, but then she can play the five, and she acts like a point. And that's just something really rare.
"I think that they've got another level of what they're capable of doing. And then you've got Azzi Fudd, with that lethal [shot]. What's she shooting, about 57% from the three?" Jensen added. "They just throw another wave at you. They always have, but I feel like this particular team, they have a very intense defensive balance to them. Their full-court pressing.... And then their quarter-court defense is really sensational. They don't let you have much easy, and it's really high intensity and high pressure."
"That defense, especially in the quarter-court, is really formidable," she concluded.
After noting how she watched Michigan come back from behind against UConn earlier this year (although UConn ultimately still won), Jensen added, "I think the key is, really, you have to stay in the moment [against UConn]. I know it sounds clichè, but they can turn you over so fast, UConn, that if you don't stay in that next play, it's just gonna happen, and happen, and happen... With a team like UConn that is so fast, and they're almost flawless in every aspect of the game. There's no time to get too high, and certainly low."
"You've got to stay in that moment, or they just stack tough ones on you," she concluded of UConn.
The Hawkeyes certainly have their work cut out for this this weekend.
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Grant Young covers Women’s Basketball, the New York Yankees, and the New York Mets for Sports Illustrated’s ‘On SI’ sites. He holds an MFA degree in creative writing from the University of San Francisco (USF), where he also graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing and played on USF’s Division I baseball team for five years. However, he now prefers Angel Reese to Angels in the Outfield.
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