The Iowa Hawkeyes women’s basketball team is set to face Illinois on Thursday, Feb. 26 at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City. The game will begin at 8 p.m. Central Time and will be broadcast on the Hawkeye Radio Network as well as streamed on BTN.
Fans can listen to the game through the Hawkeye Radio Network, which covers Iowa and parts of neighboring states, with Rob Brooks providing play-by-play and Kathryn Reynolds as color commentator. The radio coverage includes a 30-minute pregame show.
Iowa has maintained a strong presence in women’s college basketball in recent years. The program was the first in Big Ten history to reach back-to-back National Championships in 2023 and 2024. During the 2023-24 season, Iowa tied Purdue (1998-99) and Maryland (2014-15) for most wins in Big Ten history with 34 victories. Over the past six seasons, Iowa has consistently ranked among the top ten nationally for attendance.
The Hawkeyes have secured four Big Ten Tournament titles since 2019 and have recorded nine consecutive seasons with at least 20 wins, marking their second-longest streak of this kind. Since Nov. 11, 2016, Iowa holds a home record of 140-21 and has gone 106-33 against Big Ten opponents since the start of the 2019-20 season.
Since 2019, six former Hawkeyes have been drafted into the WNBA: Kathleen Doyle, Megan Gustafson, Monika Czinano, Caitlin Clark, Kate Martin, and Lucy Olsen.
Jan Jensen became head coach of Iowa’s women’s basketball program on May 13, 2024. “Jensen is the first coach in Iowa women’s basketball history to record 20+ wins in their first two seasons.” According to records, “Jensen surpassed Lisa Bluder and now has the second most wins by a head coach in their first season at the University of Iowa (23).” Jensen currently holds an overall record of 45-16 with a conference mark of 23-11 at Iowa.
Over the last quarter-century, Iowa has participated in postseason tournaments during all but two seasons—making appearances in both NCAA Tournaments (19 times) and WNITs (four times). The current roster features nine freshmen and sophomores—the most for any Hawkeyes squad since the 2012-13 season—and they are currently on a run of winning 21 out of their last 26 regular-season Big Ten games.
Historically against Illinois, Iowa leads with an all-time series advantage of 61-21 and has won eight out of their last ten meetings with them.
Illinois enters Thursday’s matchup with a record of 19-8 overall and a conference mark of 9-7. They are currently riding a three-game winning streak following victories over Wisconsin, Rutgers, and Northwestern. Five out of Illinois’ eight losses this season occurred during road games within league play. The Illini hold the No.32 spot in NET rankings this year but are just two-for-seven against Quad One competition.
