Jan Jensen landed a big piece in California, and Iowa’s latest five-star addition looks like the kind of player who can grow into just about any role the Hawkeyes need.
McKenna Woliczko arrives in Iowa City as a 6-foot-2 forward with a reputation as one of the best rebounders in the 2026 recruiting class. She’s decorated, versatile and already projected to start at power forward, but the setup around her suggests she won’t be asked to carry the offense right away.
For Iowa, that’s a good thing. For Woliczko, it may be the best possible landing spot.
Jensen is reshaping the offense, too. Iowa used plenty of high-low action last season with the emergence of Ava Heiden and former Hawkeye forward Hannah Stuelke, but the roster has changed enough that a more read-and-react approach makes sense. After the addition of All-SEC guard Dani Carnegie, Oklahoma State’s Amari Whiting and several others, the Hawkeyes have more moving parts and more shot creation than they’ve had in recent years.
That matters for Woliczko. Instead of being forced into a starring scoring role, she can settle into the work that fits her game: running the floor, making smart reads, attacking the short corner and cleaning up possessions on the glass. She brings athleticism, defensive versatility and the kind of little things that tend to win minutes fast.
Her shot is another reason Iowa is excited. Woliczko already has solid fundamentals, with a steady base and the same follow-through every time. Jensen believes the three-point range will come along naturally with repetition.
"Her three-ball will get more and more consistent. She didn't shoot that a lot in high school, but it's really pretty," Jensen added following Iowa's open practice.
"We'll get that more consistent hopefully throughout this year, but (throughout) her career. But she's just able to do so many things.
And she runs the floor. Man, she can run it.
She's just a pretty basketball player when she's running, and I think that when she starts to understand the reads, she's gonna be a hard guard because she's got a pretty quick first step, and she can finish beautifully."
The rebounding may be the sneaky part of her game that shows up fastest. Woliczko has a sharp sense for where the ball is going and an even quicker second jump when the first rebound isn’t secured. At 6-foot-2, she still manages to win battles that don’t look like hers on paper.
"She gets rebounds that you don't think she's gonna get. But, I just like the way she's approaching it," Jensen added.
"And she's homesick like a lot of them, but she pretty much comes in in a good way homesick. I know that it's a lot on them.
She's really just come to work every day, and she's got a really great mentality and just a really great perspective."
The pieces around her should help, too. Chit Chat Wright and Carnegie give Iowa a backcourt duo that can control tempo, run the offense and create shots off the dribble.
That’s a different look for the Hawkeyes, who haven’t had multiple elite shot creators on the floor in the past couple of years. Amari Whiting and Taylor Stremlow add more creation and spacing, which should keep the pressure off Woliczko and let her work as a fourth or fifth scoring option early on.
That kind of environment can be exactly what unlocks a player like this over time. Jensen summed up Woliczko’s makeup with one line that fits the profile: "She's got a really humble confidence about her.
She knows that she's got a lot to learn, but she also knows that she's got a lot of different weapons. She's really versatile."
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