By Hawk Fanatic

IOWA CITY, Iowa – The Iowa women’s basketball team hasn’t lost back-to-back games in over two years, but that streak will be on the line in Thursday’s game at Illinois.

Iowa is coming off an emotional 74-66 loss to Maryland this past Sunday at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. The Hawkeyes trailed by as many as 25 points in the first half, but then sliced the deficit to five points twice in the fourth quarter only to fall short in the end.

The last time Iowa dropped back-to-back games was on Nov. 27, 2022, and Dec. 1, 2022, losing to Connecticut and North Carolina State by scores of 86-79 and 94-81, respectively.

And while Illinois is only 1-3 in Big Ten play this season, it is 9-1 on its home floor.

Iowa also lost its last game in Champaign 90-86 on Jan. 1, 2023, and that was with Caitlin Clark on the team.

So, first-year Iowa head coach Jan Jensen shouldn’t have any trouble motivating her players.

Iowa, ranked 23rd in this week’s Associated Press poll, needs to pile up as many conference wins as possible to stay in the race for a Big Ten regular-season title and to make the NCAA Tournament.

Illinois returns four 1,000-career point scorers, which is tied for the most in the NCAA with Baylor, Notre Dame, and Kansas State. Those four players are Genesis Bryant, Makira Cook, Adalia McKenzie, and Kendall Bostic.

Bryant has recorded three consecutive games of 20-plus points.

Cook has not seen any game action since Illinois played Ohio State on Dec. 8, 2024. She was a First Team All-Big Ten guard in 2023.

Iowa hopes to avoid another slow start like the one that caused it to fall way behind Maryland.

But that game was played at home and the capacity crowd helped to energize and inspire the Iowa players.

They won’t have that luxury at Illinois.

“We can’t have starts like that in the Big Ten, the Big Ten is so good,” said Iowa senior guard Syd Affolter. “We did fight until the end. In the second half, we played much better. We outscored them in the second half.

“So, we’ve just got to mimic that and make that a full game of basketball.”

Iowa (12-3, 2-2) vs. Illinois (11-4, 1-3)

When: Thursday, 6 p.m.

Where: Champaign, Illinois, State Farm Center

TV: BTN+

Radio: Hawkeye Radio Network

All-time series: Iowa leads the all-time series, 61-20. Iowa has won eight out of the last nine. The Hawkeyes dropped their last road trip in Champaign, 86-90. (Jan. 1, 2023)