Thursday night’s game was a chaotic one for the Iowa women’s basketball team.
From an early injury to Hannah Stuelke to a wild comeback in the fourth quarter, the Hawkeyes 82-78 win over Illinois showcased women’s hoops at their very best. It was an excellent and enthralling two hours of basketball that ended in the best way possible for the home team. Lost in all the chaos of the game was what the result meant for Iowa going forward, specifically in the Big Ten Tournament.
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The Hawkeyes are now 14-3 in conference play this season, tied for second with the Michigan Wolverines. Because Iowa beat Michigan on Sunday, they own the tiebreaker and the two seed currently. They’re also two games up on Minnesota and Ohio State, who are tied for fourth in the conference. That means that Iowa has officially clinched either the second or third seed in the upcoming Big Ten Tournament.
A win over Wisconsin on Sunday or a Michigan loss to Maryland on Saturday would officially give Iowa the two seed in the conference tournament. That’s huge for a few reasons, but none may be more important than avoiding UCLA for as long as possible.
Iowa’s one game against the top-seeded Bruins this season didn’t go well, as they dropped a lopsided 88-65 game in Los Angeles on February 1. UCLA is currently 17-0 in Big Ten play, having mowed down everyone in its way across a dominant conference slate. If Iowa holds on to the two seed, they wouldn’t have to play UCLA any earlier than the championship game, which is massive.
The Hawkeyes have a chance to make a serious run in the conference tournament, and their odds of doing that would increase drastically the longer they can avoid the Bruins. And if they match up again with UCLA in the title game, there’s no doubt that Jan Jensen would have her team ready for revenge.
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Iowa’s first game in the 2026 Big Ten Tournament will be on Friday, March 6. If they’re the two-seed, the tip-off will be at 5:30 p.m. CST. If they’re the three-seed, tip-off will be 25 minutes after the conclusion of the two-seed game. All games in the tournament, outside of the championship game, can be seen on the Big Ten Network.
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This article originally appeared on Hawkeyes Wire: Iowa women’s basketball clinches Big Ten Tournament double bye
