By Pat Harty

IOWA CITY, Iowa – Jan Jensen’s next win will be her 50th as the Iowa women’s basketball coach, and barring a major upset, it’ll come in Saturday’s game against No. 15 seed Fairleigh Dickinson in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

It would also come in Jensen’s second season as head coach, meaning she would have averaged at least 25 wins in her first two years as the head Hawk, setting a program record.

But what if win No. 51 doesn’t happen this season?

What if Iowa were to lose in the second round, as was the case last season on the road?

Would Jensen still consider this season a success if it didn’t include a trip to the NCAA Sweet 16?

“Absolutely, absolutely,” Jensen said Friday. “I think that’s where sport for the good and the bad, you’re always going to have people that just want the last rung on the ladder. And it’s gotten more and more to that. But those of us that are in coaching, and I have to remind myself of this a lot because you can let the narrative start to swing you and it can be like, ‘oh, gosh.’

“But the mission is to hopefully be in a position to lead these young women and positively impact them and take them as far as they can go. And as long as that’s your mission and you’re accruing a lot of wins a long the way, you have to understand that sometimes the one you want to get to, sports happen. And I think for the most part I do a pretty good job of that. But I’m very hopeful, I’m working towards getting one game and then two games.

“Yes, it’s been a success. I would just love it to be sweeter.”

Jensen wasn’t looking past Fairleigh Dickinson as she met with the media on Friday.

She was asked about closing in on 50 wins and about the importance of getting to the Sweet 16, and she spoke candidly about balancing success in the regular season with success in the postseason.

The NCAA Tournament has become such a massive and influential annual event that it sometimes overshadows the regular-season grind where champions are made.

Jensen was also asked Friday if she is surprised by her success so far, which includes a 49-17 overall record. Iowa also finished 15-3 in the Big Ten this season, earning a No. 2 seed in both the Big Ten Tournament and in the NCAA regional.

“Surprised? I think more would you have taken the bet,” Jensen said. “Like if they said, ‘okay, you can sign right now and we don’t know what’ll happen. But you can get 50 wins if you sign right here, even though knowing maybe we could have gotten 55 (wins). I would have signed for 50.

“But then you get this job and the interesting thing about this job, sport I should say, is you’re grateful and then you’re greedy. It’s just like, ‘man that went really well and you get that one and you’re like, I’m so glad that we got that. But can we get one more? Can we do it again and again? Yeah, that was so great, that was so fun, man we handled that, and then let’s get one more. Grateful to greedy.”

Iowa will bring a 26-6 record into Saturday’s first-round game, and while there have been three lopsided defeats, twice to second-ranked UCLA , and once against top-ranked Connecticut, to win 26 games under any circumstance is impressive.

Iowa also has had to overcome the season-ending knee injury to senior guard Taylor McCabe, one of its its best 3-point shooters, and the nagging injures to senior forward Hanna Stuelke, its top rebounder.

“I’m really just grateful for all of that because it is hard to do,” Jensen said Friday. “The one thing I understand about this business clearly is that winning is hard. Winning is hard if you’re at Connecticut, and winning is hard if you’re at Cedar Rapids Washington. If you win and you win relatively consistently, it’s just hard to do.

“So I’m thankful we’ve had great groups that I’ve been associated with here certainly, and as a head coach, man, that (first) group, they found a way, and this group has really done a great job and continues to achieve or over-achieve. And so it would be awesome if we could get to that tomorrow.”

It was easy to assume that Iowa might suffer a decline following the departure of all-everything guard Caitlin Clark, and most of her talented supporting cast, which were instrumental in leading Iowa to back-to-back NCAA runner-ups finished in 2023 and 2024.

Lisa Bluder also retired as Iowa’s all-time winningest head coach shortly after the 2023-24 season.

But the wins have continued to accumulate at a high rate, while the fans have continued to pack Carver-Hawkeye Arena with this being the third consecutive season in which Iowa has sold out all of its games.

Bluder retired as a Hawkeye legend and there will never be another Caitlin Clark. But there still has been success after their departures as evidenced by Jensen already having 49 wins in less than two full seasons.

The next step for Jensen, who served as Bluder’s top assistant coach for over three decades, is to lead Iowa on a run in the NCAA Tournament.

And as Jensen emphasized on Friday while talking to the media, the only way to make a run is to win one game at a time.

Standing in the way on Saturday will be a Fairleigh Dickinson squad that has won 22 straight games and is 30-4 overall, including finishing 18-0 in conference play.

“I think this game, everybody in the country that’s playing this first game, everybody playing now, it’s big because if you don’t handle it, you all go home,” Jensen said. “So it’s big. I don’t know how much more time you can spend on that. That’s pretty clear; we have to be ready and we have to know the scout and we have to do what we’ve done to get here.

“So we’ve talked about it. I’ve talked more about all of the awesomeness of being at home, and all of the pressure that comes with that. And so it’s mostly trying to lock in and do what we need to do. And if we do that then we can get to that second game.”

Iowa fell to No. 3 seed Oklahoma 96-62 in the second round last season, but that game was played on Oklahoma’s home court in Norman, Oklahoma.

The current Hawkeye squad will have the convenience of playing at home, and the energy that comes from a raucous sellout crowd.

There is some pressure with being one of 16 team to host a regional, though Iowa sophomore guard Taylor Stremlow sees it differently.

“I don’t think so,” she said. “If anything, it’s just added excitement, just getting another opportunity to play. What is it; only 16 teams get that opportunity. So just enjoying it while we have it, specifically for these seniors. This is going to be their last game here in Carver. SD\o make the best of it.”

Iowa leads the all-time series, 1-0. The programs met for the first time in Iowa City on Nov. 6, 2023 as the Caitlin Clark-led Hawkeyes prevailed, 102-49.

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Fairleigh Dickinson (30-4) vs. Iowa (26-6)

When: Saturday, 3 p.m.

Where: carver-Hawkeye Arena

What: NCAA first-round game

TV: ESPN

Radio: Hawkeye Radio Network

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IOWA probable starters

Pos. No. Name Ht. Yr. Hometown Season Stat Summary

PG 11 Chit-Chat Wright 5-4 So. Atlanta, Ga. 12.3 ppg, 4.6 apg, 45% 3fg

SG 1 Taylor Stremlow 5-10 So. Verona, Wis. 8.2 ppg, 4.1 apg, 2.9 rpg

SG 4 Kylie Feuerbach 6-0 Gr. Sycamore, Ill. 5.3 ppg, 2.7 apg, 1.6 rpg

PF 45 Hannah Stuelke 6-2 Sr. Cedar Rapids, Iowa 13.4 ppg, 8.5 rpg, 54% fg

C 5 Ava Heiden 6-4 So. Sherwood, Ore. 17.4 ppg, 7.3 rpg, 65% fg