Jan Jensen: “I really do believe I’m pushing the right buttons”

IOWA CITY — There’s a difference between the grasping at straws and the pushing of buttons.

One is an act of desperation. The other, a quest for progress.

Iowa women’s basketball coach Jan Jensen conveyed an assertive — but nowhere near desperate — tone Wednesday as the Hawkeyes (12-5 overall, 2-4 Big Ten) look to snap a three-game losing streak.

They face Nebraska (13-4, 4-2) at 6 p.m. Thursday at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

“I really do believe I’m pushing the right buttons,” said Jensen, in her first year as head coach after decades as Lisa Bluder’s top lieutenant.

“I’m tweaking different places, and I believe I’m going to hit it.”

The three-game skid is Iowa’s first since 2018. That team answered with nine wins in its next 10 games.

This team’s response is yet to be written.

“I don’t think we’ve figured it out yet, but I know it’s going to make us stronger in the future,” Lucy Olsen said. “We all want to win. We’re all in this together. We love each other.

“It’s intense. Now is the time. We don’t have a lot of time left.”

Iowa has 12 games remaining in its regular season. The Nebraska matchup marks the first game of a pivotal three-game set, which also includes a two-game trip to the Pacific Northwest for road games with Oregon and Washington.

The Hawkeyes have backslid to 13th place in the Big Ten, and are projected as a 10-seed in the NCAA tournament, according to ESPN bracketologist Charlie Creme.

“I do think it’s pivotal,” Jensen said. “Is it back-to-the-wall (Thursday) night? I don’t think so.

“But yes, if we want to get into that upper end (of the Big Ten), yeah, it’s pivotal.”

In veterans Sydney Affolter and Hannah Stuelke, plus Olsen — a transfer from Villanova — and a progressing freshman class, Iowa certainly has the pieces to be successful.

Now, the quest continues in putting them together.

Jensen was asked about weighing two facets in determining playing team. Numbers, and the so-called eye test.

Both, she said.

“I’m a gut person, when it’s clear,” she said. “I do look at the plus/minus — both individually and collectively — and the analytics. But it’s so even (among the players).

“This year, I’m probably leaning 60-40 toward analytics.”

The last three losses have left different impressions.

Maryland, you could argue, was simply superior. Then ...

“After the Illinois game, I was very hot and disappointed in our play. There was some flatness there,” Jensen said.

“Indiana, we did better, but we just didn’t turn a corner.”

So now, it’s Nebraska. An opportunity to reverse a slide.

“They have a lot of weapons,” Jensen said of the Huskers. “They’re my kind of team, they have a big post (Alexis Markowski) who does the job. We’ve got to (rebound).

“I want to play with that rhythm ... if we do that, I think we’ll be in position to win.”

Comments: jeff.linder@thegazette.com