Apr 5, 2024; Cleveland, OH, USA; Iowa Hawkeyes forward Hannah Stuelke (45) shoots against Connecticut Huskies forward Aaliyah Edwards (3) in the first quarter in the semifinals of the Final Four of the womens 2024 NCAA Tournament at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports / Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
Iowa's women's basketball team will have five neutral-court games and one road game on its 2024-25 nonconference schedule released Thursday.
The schedule includes five teams that played in the NCAA Tournament last season.
The Hawkeyes are coming off a second consecutive run to the NCAA national championship game. Iowa won a school-record 34 games last season and returns starters Hannah Stuelke (14 ppg, 6.6 rpg) and guard Sydney Affolter (8.4 ppg, 6.6 rpg).
The Hawkeyes have six home games, including a December 11 game against Iowa State (21-12, 31 NET in 2023-24), a team ranked 10th in ESPN's way-too-early Top 25.
Iowa, under new head coach Jan Jensen, opens the season at home against Northern Illinois (15-16, 246 NET) on November 6. The Hawkeyes then play Virginia Tech (25-8, 19 NET) in the Ally Tipoff in Charlotte, N.C., the second consecutive year the two teams have met in the event.
Iowa has a November 13 home game against Mid-American Conference regular-season champion Toledo (28-6, 66 NET) before its lone road game at Missouri Valley Conference champion Drake (29-6, 65 NET) on November 17. The Hawkeyes then travel to Sioux Falls, S.D., to play Kansas (20-13, 38 NET) at the Sanford Pentagon on November 20.
The Hawkeyes play host to Washington State (21-15, 33 NET) on November 24 before heading off to Cancun, Mexico, to play Rhode Island (21-14, 76 NET) and BYU (16-17, 83 NET) in the Cancun Challenge on November 28-29
Iowa then plays Tennessee (20-13, 26 NET) at the Women's Champions Classic in Brooklyn, N.Y., on December 7 before coming home to play Iowa State.
The nonconference schedule concludes with a December 20 game against Northern Iowa (16-16, 99 NET) at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
Iowa has one exhibition game, playing host to Missouri Western on October 30.