IOWA CITY — For an Iowa women’s basketball program that’s played in back-to-back NCAA title games and has multiple names still active from those runs, any matchup deemed a “big game” is subjective at best. It’s early January after all. Moments of greater magnitude are inevitably ahead.

Still, Iowa’s next affair inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena is probably as significant as any showdown could be on Jan. 5.

The No. 22 Hawkeyes (12-2, 2-1 Big Ten Conference) welcome No. 7 Maryland (13-0, 3-0) to town for Sunday’s 5 p.m. contest, which will feature plenty of intensity that’s become synonymous with this elite women’s basketball matchup. Iowa’s vibrant venue will put on its best face for one of the season’s premier home games. It’s only fitting former head coach Lisa Bluder will be honored at halftime as the environment she helped construct roars around her.

“Getting into conference play is when you want to see things start to come together a little bit,” junior guard Taylor McCabe said. “It’s about that time for us. I think this team, our ceiling is very high. And we have a lot of room to grow.”

With that, here are three things to watch ahead of Sunday’s important matchup.

Can the Hawkeyes stay on the right side of the line between productively unpredictable and frustratingly inconsistent?

It’s hard to argue there’s a more productive way Iowa could’ve done business up to this point in the season. The Hawkeyes’ record looks sharp, without any major faceplants. The program cohesion seems to be ascending with each passing game. And while the offensive production has been maybe a bit more erratic than expected, Iowa has leaned into having abundant contributions that can come from anywhere.

“I’m appreciating that they’ve really understood the strength of this team is every single one of them,” Jensen said. “And I mean every one of them. Practice even, the kids who don’t always get in are golden. And hopefully everyone in their orbits can keep fanning what they’re doing because that gives us the best opportunity to win. The team is certainly all about it.”

Hearing those virtues is nothing new for those who have followed this program’s recent ascension. Every squad, to some extent, preaches the team-first concept. But being able to thrive on it, with everyone understanding this is Iowa’s best chance to win each night, is much harder to execute. The culture already in place has accelerated that transition from a veteran group that thrived with firm expectations.

Take Iowa’s last three game as a microcosm. Wins over Northern Iowa, Purdue and Penn State saw the Hawkeyes have three different leading scorers and three different leading rebounders. When Lucy Olsen was off offensively the last two games, her teammates and Iowa’s defense picked up the slack. Those moments are significant as this group encounters them for the first time together.

Of course, it doesn’t take but a few negative results to flip the narrative on not knowing who is going to lead the way each night. Banking on some kind of skid unfolding during Big Ten play is probably a safe bet with how deep the league runs. So the Hawkeyes must make sure their cohesion is in a place that can handle it whenever it arrives.

Until then, Iowa’s unpredictable nature remains a positive.

Hear from Taylor McCabe, Sydney Affolter ahead of Iowa women’s basketball vs. Maryland

Hear from Taylor McCabe, Sydney Affolter ahead of Iowa women’s basketball vs. Maryland

Is Taylor McCabe’s role set to expand amid this run of bench success?

Many, including McCabe herself, weren’t surprised to see her shift to the bench once Sydney Affolter returned early in the non-conference. Handling that shift, especially for someone like McCabe who has patiently waited her turn, wasn’t a slam dunk.

McCabe handled it just fine. She has 41 points over the Hawkeyes’ previous four contests, while shooting 13-for-24 from deep in that span. On average, McCabe has played 11 more minutes per game over the last three games than Kylie Feuerbach has.

“From a mental standpoint, it was interesting at first,” McCabe said. “Any time you get shifted in a lineup, it’s going to mess with you just a touch. But then I think getting back to practice with repetition and getting more into the game flow, finding a comfort level there was a big deal for me. I feel like I’ve gotten to that point.

“Moving forward, I think the coaches are going to keep rolling with whatever is working and keep everybody’s confidence high. That’s going to be a big deal for the whole team.”

While a starting lineup change would be the more deliberate move, having McCabe in with the closing unit is arguably more significant than who is on the floor at tipoff. That’s more reality than coaching cliche, especially with Iowa likely in numerous tight affairs over the next couple months.

Is it too early to start NCAA Tournament discussions? Maybe a tad, but could this result loom large on Selection Sunday?

NCAA Tournament bracketologies used to not be a year-long thing, previously starting with regular updates sometime during conference play. Now, though? There are way-too-early offseason bracketologies, preseason bracketologies and pretty much weekly projections the second the season tips off. When to take them seriously has become a harder task than before.

While it still feels a bit early to place any kind of tight range on Iowa’s NCAA Tournament outlook — especially considering the ranked opponents scheduled in February — it’s easy to see a Hawkeyes win on Sunday carrying significant weight on a March Madness resume.

For starters, this is the only scheduled Iowa-Maryland matchup of the season. Yes, they could meet again at the Big Ten Tournament in Indianapolis. But Sunday’s result could have a role in any tiebreaker scenarios for that event, or as an unofficial tiebreaker if the two are competing for similar NCAA Tournament seeds.

Second, the Hawkeyes could use some high-end substance on their NET sheet. With the quad system coming to the women’s side to join the NET rankings that have already done the same, dissecting who you beat and where you beat them has never been more significant.

A quick quad refresher on the NET ranking ranges associated with each level of win:

• Quad 1: Home game vs. opponent ranked 1-25, neutral court vs. opponent ranked 1-35, road game vs. opponent ranked 1-45
• Quad 2: 26-55 home, 36-65 neutral, 46-80 road
• Quad 3: 56-90 home, 66-105 neutral, 81-130 road
• Quad 4: 91-362 home, 106-362 neutral, 131-362 road

Iowa currently sits 30th in the NET but is 0-2 in its only Quad 1 opportunities (vs. Tennessee in Brooklyn, at Michigan State). Two of the Hawkeyes’ Quad 2 games are barely in range — home vs. Iowa State (50), at Drake (79) — so getting a Quad 1 win over Maryland (22) would immediately enhance everything Iowa has done.

The Big Ten is a projection logjam right now. Nine teams are ranked between 20th and 39th in the NET. Nine teams are between a No. 5 and a No. 11 seed in Charlie Creme’s latest ESPN bracketology. Acquiring any kind of win that stands out among several good-but-flawed NCAA Tournament resumes can make a ton of difference down the stretch.

The Hawkeyes will obviously have more high-end chances after Sunday’s game, several of them at home. But this feels like Iowa’s most manageable opportunity against an elite team.

Dargan Southard is a sports trending reporter and covers Iowa athletics for the Des Moines Register and HawkCentral.com. Email him at msouthard@gannett.com or follow him on Twitter at @Dargan_Southard.