By Pat Harty

IOWA CITY, Iowa –  The Iowa men’s and women’s basketball teams are both in bounce-back mode this week.

Standing in the way in both cases, however, is a talented and nationally ranked Iowa State squad.

The Iowa women’s basketball team (8-1) will face Iowa State (8-2) on Wednesday at Carver-Hawkeye Arena, while the Iowa men’s basketball team (7-2) will face Iowa State (7-1) on Thursday at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

The Iowa State men’s basketball team is ranked third in this week’s Associated Press poll, while the Iowa State women and the Iowa women are ranked 18th and 21st, respectively, in the AP poll.

Both games will be a good measuring stick for all four teams.

The Iowa men’s basketball team is coming off an 85-83 loss at Michigan this past Saturday, a game in which Fran McCaffery’s squad trailed by double figures in both halves before rallying.

Iowa had a chance to win the game, but Pryce Sandfort’s 3-point attempt from the baseline, and with a defender draped all over him, fell short as time expired.

The Iowa women are coming off a 78-68 loss to Tennessee this past Saturday in New York City, a game in which Iowa committed a whopping 30 turnovers against Tennessee’s relentless defensive pressure.

It was Iowa’s first loss under new head coach Jan Jensen, and its first loss in the post Caitlin Clark era.

“There’s a lot of runway left,” Jensen said Monday.

Jensen said her team lacked the poise that was needed to withstand Tennessee’s full-court pressure.

The question now is will opponents use the Tennessee game as a blueprint for how to beat this Iowa team?

In addition to the 30 turnovers, Iowa starters Syd Affolter and Hannah Stuelke both were held to just one field goal apiece in the Tennessee loss.

Affolter, who had her knee scoped in September, only took two shots against Tennessee.

She is too good of a player to only take two shots, while Stuelke just had an off night from a scoring standpoint.

Graduate guard Lucy Olsen has been as good as advertised, while senior center Addi O’Grady has saved her best for last, going from being a  reserve in her first three seasons to a double-digit scorer this season.

O’Grady’s matchup in the post with Iowa State sophomore center Audi Crooks will be interesting to watch and could have much to say about which team prevails.

The Iowa women have only lost four non-conference home games in the last eight seasons, while the Iowa State women haven’t won in Iowa City since 2006.

Iowa State’s two losses this season were against defending national champion South Carolina by 40 points (76-36) and against Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls.

South Carolina turned the game into a rout with a 32-0 scoring run, something you don’t see every day.

As for the men’s game on Thursday, Iowa will face a daunting task against a tough, well-connected and talented Iowa State team.

T.J. Otzelberger has turned Iowa State back into a force on a national scale.

His team plays rock-solid defense, is unselfish on offense and is loaded at the guard positions.

The Cyclones are eighth in the nation, averaging 87.8 points per game, while shooting 50.8 percent (11th in NCAA) from the floor.

Iowa State commits just 9.1 turnovers per contest — seventh-fewest nationally — and forces 16.88 per game (17th). They have the fourth-best turnover margin (7.8) in the country.

Guard Keshon Gilbert leads a group of five Cyclones in double figures, averaging 17.4 points and 5.5 assists. Curtis Jones averages 16.3 points off the bench with a team-high 23 3-pointers

Iowa has won four straight over Iowa State inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena, winning by an average of 18.8 points. This includes a
28-point win in 2020 (105-77) and a 19-point victory (75-56) in 2022.

So, home-court advantage is certainly a factor, and with both games being played in Iowa City, that is reason for guarded optimism.

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Portal updates: The transfer portal officially opened on Monday and Iowa redshirt freshman quarterback Marco Lainez didn’t waste any time as he posted early Monday morning ox X that he had entered the portal.

The New Jersey native didn’t see any playing time this season and his only appearance as a Hawkeye came in the fourth quarter of last season’s 35-0 loss to Tennessee in the 2024 Citrus Bowl. He rushed for 57 yards on six carries in the Citrus Bowl and completed 2-of-4 passes for four yards.

Lainez might have had a chance to start for Iowa after Cade McNamara and Brendan Sullivan both were injured late in the season. But Lainez also suffered an injury to his thumb that kept him from playing.

Sophomore walk-on Jackson Stratton started the last two regular-season games at quarterback.

Stratton and Sullivan are now expected to compete for the starting position in preparation for the Music City Bowl, though Kirk Ferentz said Sunday, that if he had to guess, Sullivan would start against Missouri on Dec. 30 in Nashville.

Lainez is the third Iowa quarterback to enter the portal since the end of the regular season, joining Cade McNamara and true freshman James Resar, who switched to receiver midway through this season.

Iowa sophomore defensive lineman Cade Crawford also announced Monday that he plans to enter the transfer portal. The Kansas native will have two seasons of eligibility.

Iowa walk-on tight end Jalyn Thompson, walk-on defensive end Ethan Aghakhan and walk-on fullback Rusty VanWetzinga also announced Monday that they have entered the transfer portal.

Former Iowa receiver Kaleb Brown, who left the team in October, also announced Monday that he has entered the portal.

College football is faced with roster uncertainty as upcoming changes mandated by the $2.8 billion House v. NCAA settlement would limit roster sizes as part of the agreement.

Football teams would be hit the hardest, dropping from an average FBS roster size of 121 to a maximum of 105 players.

That would make it virtually impossible to have multiple walk-ons players on the roster, and for Iowa, which has relied heavily on walk-ons under Kirk Ferentz, that would be unfortunate.

Iowa already has had multiple walk-on players enter the portal.

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Barry Odom to Purdue: Barry Odom’s reward for rebuilding the UNLV football program is a chance to rebuild the Purdue football program.

News broke Monday that Purdue has hired Odom to be the next football coach. He replaces Ryan Walters, who was fired after just two seasons.

Odom spent the last two seasons leading UNLV to a 19-8 record, including a 12-3 mark in Mountain West play.

This past Friday, UNLV played in the Mountain West Championship game, falling to Boise State, 21-7.

Odom was also the head coach for Missouri from 2016-19, compiling a 25-25 record and 13-19 mark in SEC play.

So, Odom is actually getting a second chance to show that he can turn a Power 4 program into a winner.

Purdue is coming off one of the worst seasons in program history, finishing with a 1-11 record.

And with Indiana having made the playoff with an 11-1 record under first-year head coach Curt Cignetti, there is growing pressure on Purdue to start narrowing the gap with its instate rival.