This weekend’s road test for Iowa women’s basketball feels a little more significant than your usual early-December game. On Saturday, the 12th-ranked Hawkeyes, who are currently undefeated at 8-0, will travel to Piscataway for their Big Ten debut against a Rutgers team that has quietly put together a strong 7-2 start. It’s the kind of game that shows how well Iowa is prepared for the grind ahead rather than just kicking off conference play.
The Hawkeyes haven’t played since defeating Fairfield 86-72 at Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Sunday. However, the final score falls short of capturing the strange and tense atmosphere of the afternoon. In Iowa City, Fairfield, a team that arrived hot, managed to make eighteen three-pointers and appeared fearless while doing so. The Stags seemed unable to miss for extended periods of time, despite their best efforts.
Luckily for Iowa, sophomore center Ava Heiden gave a performance that quickly calmed tensions. Her impressive double-double of 18 points and 16 rebounds kept the Hawkeyes in check whenever Fairfield attempted to gain an advantage. Kylie Feuerbach, a graduate senior, scored 17 points to tie her career high in another impressive performance. Iowa survived the scare and remained flawless throughout the season by relying on experience and toughness rather than flash.
However, the plot going into Rutgers is more about who might be absent for the next game than it is about the previous victory. Three sophomores, Chit-Chat Wright, Emely Rodriguez, and Teagan Mallegni, are still being closely monitored by the Hawkeyes due to individual setbacks that may affect rotations in the early stages of Big Ten play.
Wright hasn’t played since suffering an upper-body injury from a hard fall against Baylor on November 20. This injury has kept her out of action longer than anticipated. Rodriguez has missed Iowa’s last two games due to a back problem. Mallegni recently had her tonsils removed and has been recuperating for the last few games, so her absence is unrelated to a basketball injury.
Jan Jensen, the head coach of Iowa, did not provide specific timelines when she addressed the media on Thursday, primarily because she did not yet have them. The update was straightforward, honest, and served as a reminder that schedules aren’t always accommodated by injuries. Jensen remarked, “Well, I haven’t spoken to our trainer yet.” “And it’s not coach speak; there are various tests and procedures, and it’s really day-to-day when they’re going to be released.” I still don’t have that.
Mallegni is likely a little further away from making a comeback, she continued, but she is cautiously holding out hope that Wright or Rodriguez might be closer. However, the tone was unambiguous: the staff is awaiting medical clearance before making any decisions, and nothing is guaranteed. Later, Iowa announced that senior forward Jada Gyamfi would miss a significant amount of time due to a knee procedure.
This was the more devastating blow. At a time when the team is already dealing with injuries, Gyamfi’s absence makes Iowa’s frontcourt depth even more precarious. Particularly as conference play heats up, this type of news compels coaching staffs to be inventive with lineups and minutes.
The Hawkeyes have history on their side and are confident going into Saturday despite the doubts. Iowa has a 14-3 record overall and has defeated Rutgers six times in a row. Nothing in the Big Ten is easy on the road, especially inside Jersey Mike’s Arena, where Rutgers has a propensity to punch above its weight. The last few meetings haven’t been very close. FS1’s tipoff is scheduled for 5 p.m. CT, with Kim Adams providing color and Kylen Mills handling play-by-play. Fubo provides access to the broadcast for fans watching from home and is currently offering a free trial to new users.
This game serves as an early yardstick for an Iowa team hoping to demonstrate that its undefeated start is based on more than favorable matchups, beyond the logistics and injury updates. The Hawkeyes have displayed moments of vulnerability, moments of dominance, and extended periods of depth testing—sometimes more than they would like. However, they have continued to stack victories and find solutions in surprising places despite players being sidelined.
The question isn’t whether Iowa can win when they take the field in Piscataway. It’s whether the Hawkeyes can start Big Ten play with the same tenacity that got them through a tumultuous non-conference stretch, how they will react to hardship, and how the rotation changes without certainty. If they succeed, Saturday could be the start of a run that keeps Iowa in the middle of the conference race, exactly where it wants to be.
