Iowa women’s basketball freshman Aaliyah Guyton enters transfer portal

Iowa women’s basketball freshman Aaliyah Guyton has entered the transfer portal, a source with direct knowledge of the situation confirmed to the Register on Monday. 

A top-100 prospect in the 2024 class, Guyton finished the year appearing in 29 games with one start — while averaging 16.4 minutes and 4.7 points per game. 

Much like Iowa’s season as a team, Guyton’s freshman campaign was a seesawing one. She entered coming off a torn ACL suffered during her senior season at Peoria High School. However, once Guyton jumped into action on Nov. 24 against Washington State, it didn’t take long before she was a main piece in Jan Jensen’s rotation. 

Guyton had 11 points in 24 minutes with Lucy Olsen out to propel Iowa past BYU in the Cancun Challenge. Nine points in 20 minutes arrived against Purdue early in Big Ten play. Guyton made her lone start of the year on Jan. 9 at Illinois and was lauded as a key voice during Iowa’s five-game losing streak. Fourteen points in 26 minutes against Nebraska — then 15 in 31 minutes versus Northwestern three games later — emphasized that value. 

Even when Olsen fully found her footing as Iowa’s most reliable offensive option during the back half of Big Ten play, Guyton’s playing time didn’t fall off the map. She remained a key on-ball defender that Jensen regularly deployed early off the bench. But Guyton’s offensive contributions soon took a hard nosedive. 

More: Iowa women’s basketball: How will Jan Jensen’s 1st season leading Hawkeyes be remembered?

The freshman shot just 25% from the field (14-for-57) and 22% from deep (7-for-32) over Iowa’s final 13 games. Guyton piled up 24 turnovers in that same stretch. 

Assuming Guyton doesn’t eventually remove her name from the portal, Iowa now has three open scholarships to work with for next season. The Hawkeyes had 14 of the maximum 15 in use this year and will gain another with three coming in (Addie Deal, Journey Houston, Layla Hays) and four going out (Lucy Olsen, Sydney Affolter, Addison O’Grady, A.J. Ediger). 

Jensen talked repeatedly after Iowa’s season-ending loss at Oklahoma about how the Hawkeyes will be a player in the portal this offseason. This move allows for more potential activity. 

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.