By Hawk Fanatic

IOWA CITY, Iowa – The Iowa women’s basketball team will begin conference play on the road at Rutgers on Dec. 6 in Piscataway, New Jersey.

The Big Ten Conference released conference schedules for all 18 of its men’s and women’s basketball teams on Thursday.

Nebraska is the only conference opponent that the Iowa women will face both at home and on the road.

Iowa finished 23-11 season last season in Jan Jensen’s first season as head coach, advancing to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

Iowa’s nine conference home games will be in order against Penn State, Nebraska, Oregon Michigan State, Ohio State, Minnesota, Washington, Michigan and Illinois.

Iowa’s nine conference road games will be in order against Rutgers, Northwestern, Indiana, Maryland, USC, UCLA, Nebraska, Purdue and Wisconsin.

The Hawkeyes will face USC and UCLA in back-to-back games on Jan. 29 and Feb. 1 in Los Angeles.

Iowa upset USC last season at Carver-Hawkeye Arena, but then would go on to lose to UCLA in Iowa City.

The Big Ten Conference also announced Thursday that it will continue to have 15 teams in the women’s conference tournament, while the men will have all 18 teams in its conference tournament moving forward.

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2025-26 SCHEDULE NOTES
– The Hawkeyes will play back-to-back road games at USC (1/29) and UCLA (2/1); at Nebraska (2/16) and Purdue (2/19) twice during the regular season.
– Iowa will play on New Year’s Day against Nebraska in Iowa City. It is the team’s first home game on New Year’s Day since 2006.
– Seven of Iowa’s 18 conference games will be played on Sundays.
– The conference schedule is set to conclude on Sunday, March 1 with 12 teams in action.
– Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis will host the 33rd Big Ten Women’s Basketball Tournament, scheduled for March 4-8.

Last season, The Hawkeyes earned two wins in the Big Ten Tournament and defeated Murray State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Iowa also secured its ninth straight 20-win season, the second-longest streak in program history. In her first year as head coach Jan Jensen added to the milestone by recording the second-most wins by a first-year head coach in program history.

Game times and television info will be released in the coming weeks.

The Iowa Athletics Department anticipates the third consecutive season ticket sellout for women’s basketball. Details regarding the UI student ticket program, and limited single-game ticket availability for select games, will be made available at a later date.

Editor’s note: Hawkeyesports.com contributed to this article.