Iowa Women’s Basketball Searching for Defensive Identity Amid Skid
IOWA CITY, Iowa - The Hawkeyes are in the thick of a three-game losing streak, and while the urgency is rising, the panic button hasn’t been hit just yet. Still, there’s no denying that Iowa is facing a critical stretch-one that could define how the rest of their Big Ten campaign unfolds.
At the heart of their recent struggles? Defense. Or more specifically, the absence of it.
Since Taylor McCabe went down with a season-ending injury, Iowa’s defensive identity has taken a hit. The numbers speak volumes: the Hawkeyes have surrendered at least 81 points in each of their last three contests. That includes a 91-point outburst by Minnesota, a game where Iowa’s perimeter defense was virtually nonexistent.
The breakdowns have been glaring. USC connected on 37% of their threes.
UCLA? A blistering 50%.
But the most concerning performance came in the loss to Minnesota, where the Gophers knocked down 10 of their 14 attempts from beyond the arc. That’s the kind of stat line that keeps coaches up at night.
“I was really disappointed about that,” head coach Jan Jensen said, bluntly assessing her team’s defensive effort. “We spent about 70% of our practices on defense-matchups, knowing who we had to guard, understanding their three-point shooting. But that was a very poor performance on the defensive end.”
It wasn’t just the results that stung-it was the lack of urgency from the opening tip. Iowa’s energy didn’t match the moment until it was too late.
“We needed that type of urgency from the tip,” Jensen added. “It was really lackluster. We missed a lot of assignments; it was just a little surprising.”
The good news? Carver-Hawkeye Arena is next on the schedule. And while the home crowd in Iowa City is one of the most passionate and intimidating in the country, Jensen isn’t letting her team lean on that as a crutch.
“That’s one thing I talked to the team about after I cooled down a little bit,” she said. “We will not just win because we’re at Carver. The fan base is going to think that, but you cannot let that thought in your mind because I know how good [Washington] is.”
She continued, emphasizing that playing at home should come with pride, not complacency.
“I think there was a safety net a little bit with playing at home. There needs to be a little bit more pride and gratitude for what we get to play in front of.
And by golly, that should be a lot of urgency. It was built before, and you want to keep the standard.
I’ve got to keep hammering that home.”
The timing of Iowa’s bye week might’ve felt inconvenient to Jensen-who admitted she “hates” having a week off-but in reality, it may have arrived at the perfect moment. Iowa had just rattled off three straight wins over top-15 teams before this skid. The break gives the Hawkeyes a chance to reset, regroup, and refocus before things spiral.
“It’s a long season,” said star guard Chit Chat Wright. “We’ve got to keep our heads down and stay grinding throughout it.”
Inside the locker room, there’s a quiet confidence. No panic. Just a shared understanding that the standard hasn’t been met-and that it’s time to get back to what made this team dangerous in the first place.
“I wouldn’t say concern,” said rising star Ava Heiden, who’s been one of the breakout players in the Big Ten this season. “But urgency.
We need to do what we can do, and we haven’t done that in the past few games. Recentering as a team, recalibrating, and then going forward and throwing the first punch.”
That’s the mindset Iowa needs right now. The Big Ten won’t wait for anyone to figure things out. But if the Hawkeyes can tighten the screws defensively and recapture that early-season edge, this three-game slide might just be a turning point instead of a trend.