Five-sided building with a four-sided court: Iowa meets Kansas at the Pentagon

IOWA CITY — It’s quirky, for certain.

A modern facility, with an intimate, old-school feel.

“It’s really dark,” Iowa’s Taylor McCabe said about the five-sided, 3,250-seat Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, S.D.

“The buzzer is really weird. It’s going to be a unique experience, for sure.”

McCabe can appreciate a well-put-together facility; when she arrived at Monday’s press conference, she had just finished her class in principles of structure engineering.

“I want to build skyscrapers someday,” she said.

For now, McCabe is an instrumental piece of a team that once again is stacking victories.

A pair of 4-0 women’s basketball teams, Iowa and Kansas collide at the Pentagon on Wednesday. Tipoff is 6 p.m.

“The venue is going to be cool. I’ve heard so much about it,” Iowa Coach Jan Jensen said. “It will be kind of a raucous environment, and I don’t think it will be an advantage for either team.”

Kansas is the first of three Big 12 opponents that Iowa faces in the non-conference portion of its schedule. The Hawkeyes meet BYU as part of the Cancun Challenge on Nov. 29, then host Iowa State on Dec. 11.

It’s a challenging slate, yet not overwhelming, before the Big Ten season opens Dec. 15 at Michigan State.

Despite the 4-0 start, plus the notoriety that the program has built the past two years, Iowa sits just outside the Associated Press top 25 for the third consecutive week.

“We’re fine with the underdog mentality,” Sydney Affolter said. “It is what it is; we’re not worried about rankings. We know what we have in our circle.”

With all of the offseason chatter revolving around the arrival of Lucy Olsen and the freshman class, the major storyline has been the vast improvement of senior post Addison O’Grady.

The owner of a 3.9-point scoring average heading into this season, O’Grady is shooting at a 73-percent clip (30 of 41) and scoring at a 16.8-point rate.

On the court and in the interview room, O’Grady simply carries herself with a new sense of confidence.

“We’re all pouring into her,” Affolter said. “She’s playing to the best of her potential.”

Jensen called O’Grady’s transformation “an old-fashioned progression,” and added, “It hasn’t been an easy road. Her summer this year was different.”

Iowa represents Kansas’ first Power Five opponent. The Jayhawks are allowing 53.5 points per game.

Marion native Morgan Paige is KU’s associate head coach.

Comments: jeff.linder@thegazette.com