Back home after a rough trip to L.A., Hawkeyes welcome surging Minnesota

IOWA CITY — Kylie Feuerbach has seen plenty during her five years with the Iowa women’s basketball team.

Most of it good, like Final Fours and Big Ten championships. Some of it bad, like a season-ending knee injury in 2022.

She has been witness to nine victories over Minnesota, without a single setback. Some have had mild intrigue, like last year’s 68-60 win at home. Some have been one-sided, like that 105-49 tail-kicking in Minneapolis in 2022.

This year’s Gophers, though ... they’ll bite back.

Minnesota (16-6 overall, 7-4 Big Ten) brings a four-game win streak southward for Thursday’s encounter with the 10th-ranked Hawkeyes (18-4, 9-2).

Tipoff is 6 p.m. at Carver-Hawkeye Arena (BTN).

“It’s got to be (the best Minnesota team in that five-year span),” Feuerbach said Wednesday. “They have a lot of scoring threats. It’s the kind of team, you can’t let down. You’ve got to stay focused for the full 40 minutes.”

Iowa is coming off an 0-2 road trip to Los Angeles, suffering consecutive double-digit losses to USC and No. 2 UCLA.

“We played a really good team in desperation mode,” Iowa Coach Jan Jensen said about USC. “We caught them on a really good day.”

“We didn’t play our best, and I didn’t have them prepared the best.”

“You can’t make it too high or too low. The fans probably can. It’s just part of the season.”

The L’s in L.A. marked the Hawkeyes’ first two full games without Taylor McCabe, who suffered a season-ending knee injury Jan. 25 and will undergo surgery Friday.

“We need to focus on unforced turnovers. We need to fix that,” freshman forward Journey Houston said. “I think we’re all using it for motivation, to get better and to focus on our flaws.”

The McCabe injury cut deeply into Iowa’s backcourt depth. Chit-Chat Wright, Addie Deal and Feuerbach are the starters, with Taylor Stremlow able to spell any of them.

After that?

“We’re trying to find that,” Jensen said. “Callie (Levin) got some minutes against USC; she’d broken her nose the day before.

“UCLA, we were trying to stretch Teagan (Mallegni)’s minutes because they were bigger.”

“We just don’t have a lot of minutes to push buttons, but I do believe in both of them.”

A native of Irvine, Calif., Deal had been surging prior to her trip home. But last weekend was rough in her first foray into the starting lineup.

“I think it was a combination of things,” Jensen said. “When you go home, it can go one of two ways. Their scouting report was probably to attack our youth.”

“I suspect she’ll shake that off.”

Like fellow newcomers Deal, Wright and Layla Hays, Houston has found a niche in the Hawkeyes’ rotation.

“Her motor ... she can play with a little edge, and stay relaxed,” Jensen said.

Houston cites an improved work ethic since she got to Iowa City.

“I’m in the gym all of the time now,” she said. “It was my own decision. If I want to be at this level, I need to put in the work.”

In Minnesota, the Hawkeyes will be facing a likely NCAA entrant (it would be the Gophers’ first March Madness bid since 2018) and a stalwart defensive unit.

Minnesota allows 54.8 points per game, best in the Big Ten.

“They’re well coached and play really good defense,” Jensen said. “They can score at every position.

“We’re going to have to bring it, keep our resiliency, keep our confidence up. If we do that, I believe it can continue to be a special year.”

Iowa is 11-0 at Carver this season.

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