Iowa
No. 24 Iowa 84, Purdue 63: Freshmen Fuel First B1G W
No. 24 Iowa 84, Purdue 63: Freshmen Fuel First B1G W
Addi O’Grady led Iowa with 12 points in a balanced scoring performance as the Hawkeyes outpaced Purdue, 84-63 at Carver-Hawkeye Arena Sunday. While O’Grady was the only Hawkeye in double-figure scoring, five of her teammates scored nine apiece, including freshman center Ava Heiden, who also finished with a team-high eight rebounds.
The win is Jan Jensen‘s first as a head coach in Big Ten play, and moves the Hawkeyes to 11-2 (1-1). Iowa has won 19 straight games at Carver-Hawkeye Arena as a program, including all six of its games there this season.
Sunday’s game was never in serious doubt. Not only did Purdue come in as heavy underdogs, but both times the Boilermakers made a push in the contest — a 12-2 run to cut the Hawkeyes’ lead to five in the second quarter, a 13-0 run in the third to cut it back to eight — Iowa responded immediately.
“I think when we had the lull, we shot quickly, we had turnovers, and we didn’t stay true to what we typically do,” said Jensen. “We kind of forced some things.”
Iowa finished the first half on a 15-3 run, capped by an Aaliyah Guyton contested jumper, to push its halftime lead to a significantly safer 50-32:
After a series of self-inflicted Hawkeye errors led to Purdue’s 13-point push in the third quarter, Iowa had an immediate 16-0 counterstrike, effectively granting the game safe passage to the realm of Chips and Salsa Time.
The decisive run was keyed by Syd Affolter, another nine-point scorer in the win, along with seven rebounds, a team-high four steals and a tie with Lucy Olsen for the team high in assists (six).
Affolter scored the first basket of the run by beating her defender one-on-one for a layup, and by the time Teagan Mallegni dropped in a turnaround jumper to push Iowa’s lead to 71-47, Affolter had registered her third assist of the run, along with the two aforementioned points, four rebounds and a steal.
Ballgame.
Freshman Taylor Stremlow finished with (yep) nine points — a career-high for the freshman, which almost seems hard to believe — and she did it by making all four of her shots from the field, including a banked-in three-pointer (it still counts the same) and this euro-step layup that took the scenic route on its way through the hoop:
Stremlow also found her 6’4″ classmate Heiden with a looping entry pass for an easy layup, a near-balletic catch-and-score that a pair of true freshmen frankly have no business making look so easy, especially in Big Ten play.
At times this season, Jensen has rolled out lineups of Olsen and her four true freshmen in the rotation: Aaliyah Guyton, Stremlow, Mallegni and Heiden. It’s a nice message to all the new faces on the floor that they’re integral to the team’s success from the get-go, but on Sunday Jensen ran her four freshmen out with Affolter to finish off the first half.
That lineup won its 4:40 stretch of court time 15-5.
That Jensen can trust her crew of freshmen so readily, so quickly and with such positive results to already show for it means Iowa’s upward trajectory in the Jensen Era is still a matter of the imagination. This team not only needs its freshmen, it insists upon them and they deliver in kind.
The Hawkeyes play next on January 1 at Penn State, tipping off at noon. Regrettably, that game is streaming only on Big Ten Plus.
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Iowa State football coach Jimmy Rogers on offense, defense development
Iowa State football coach Jimmy Rogers on how the Cyclones offense and defense is developing.
After securing multiple commitments on the offensive side of the ball, Iowa State football has landed its first defensive commitment in the 2027 recruiting class.
Keaton Wollan, a three-star linebacker out of Amery, Wisconsin, committed to the Cyclones on April 21. The 6-foot-3, 205-pound linebacker announced his decision on social media.
He chose Iowa State over other offers from Texas Tech and North Dakota State. He previously visited Ames in March, but he also took recent visits to Minnesota and Wisconsin.
As a junior at Amery High School, Wollan was a two-way standout and earned all-state honors for the 2025 season. Defensively, he racked up a team-high 125 total tackles, including nine for loss and 1.5 sacks. He also had four forced fumbles, three fumble recoveries, three interceptions and one defensive touchdown.
Offensively, he had a team-high 932 rushing yards and eight touchdowns on 160 carries. He also caught 15 passes for 179 yards, and he was an impact player in the return game, logging more than 500 kick and punt return yards.
According to 247 Sports Composite rankings, Wollan is the No. 93 linebacker prospect in the country and the No. 11 overall recruit in his class from the state of Wisconsin.
Wollan is the sixth player to commit in the Cyclones’ 2027 recruiting class.
Iowa State football 2027 recruiting commitments
As of April 21
- Gavin Ericson-Staton, OL | Lombard, Illinois/Montini Catholic
- Isaiah Hansen, RB | Newton, Iowa/Newton HS
- Koen Hinzman, OL | Hudson, Michigan/Hudson Area HS
- Will Slagle, OL | Grinnell, Iowa/Grinnell HS
- Bryson Thompson, WR | San Antonio, Texas/Claudia Taylor Johnson HS
- Keaton Wollan, LB | Amery, Wisconsin/Amery HS
Eugene Rapay covers Iowa State athletics for the Des Moines Register. Contact Eugene at erapay@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @erapay5.
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Prepare for more overnight closures at the northeast mixmaster as the Iowa Department of Transportation closes the ramp connecting westbound Interstate 80 and northbound Interstate 35.
Here’s what to know.
When will the Iowa DOT close the westbound I‑80 to northbound I‑35 ramp?
The westbound I-80 to northbound I-35 ramp will be closed to traffic from 10 p.m. until 5 a.m. the next morning from April 21-24.
What’s the detour when the Iowa DOT closes the westbound I‑80 to the northbound I‑35 ramp?
During the closures, drivers wanting to go from westbound I‑80 to northbound I‑35 will follow a signed detour.
Instead of taking the closed ramp, motorists will stay on westbound I‑80, bypassing the northeast mixmaster connection. They’ll then exit at U.S. Highway 69, turn around, and head back east on I‑80, where they can connect to northbound I‑35 using the open portion of the northeast mixmaster.
Cooper Worth is a service/trending reporter for the Des Moines Register. Reach him at cworth@gannett.com or follow him on X @CooperAWorth.
An Iowa women’s basketball transfer portal visitor committed to one of the Hawkeyes’ conference foes instead. Former Iowa State guard Kenzie Hare took a visit to Iowa during her transfer portal recruitment, but the 5-foot-9 guard committed to Indiana on Sunday night.
Hare had several visits throughout her transfer portal recruiting process, including trips to Michigan and Illinois State, but the Des Moines Register’s Chad Leistikow reported that Hare also visited Iowa.
On3’s Talia Goodman reported Hare’s commitment to the Hoosiers.
Hare has one year of eligibility remaining. This past season with the Cyclones, in 32 games played and 31 starts, Hare averaged 6.0 points and 2.5 rebounds per game on 40.5% field goal shooting and 40% from 3-point range. A hip injury limited Hare to just 10 games during her first year with the Cyclones in the 2024-25 season.
The soon-to-be redshirt senior transferred to Iowa State before the 2024-25 campaign after spending two seasons at Marquette from 2022-24. Hare averaged a career-best 14 points per game on 45.5% field goal shooting and 42.5% 3-point shooting during the 2023-24 season with the Golden Eagles.
Had Iowa been able to lure the Naperville, Ill., native to Iowa City, Hare would have been another valuable addition to the Hawkeyes’ backcourt depth. But, Iowa has landed other backcourt reinforcements throughout this transfer portal cycle.
The Hawkeyes inked both Dani Carnegie and Amari Whiting.
Carnegie was a first-team All-SEC selection this past season at Georgia, averaging 17.8 points per game on 42.7% field goal shooting, 35.4% from 3-point range and 83.3% from the free-throw line. Whiting averaged 9.6 points, 5.9 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 1.8 steals per game on 42.5% field goal shooting, 32.1% 3-point accuracy, and 71.6% free-throw shooting.
As Hare joins a promising core of players in Bloomington, the Hawkeyes will once again face the former Cyclone at least once this upcoming season as part of their Big Ten regular-season slate.
Contact/Follow us @HawkeyesWire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Iowa news, notes, and opinions. Follow Scout on X: @SpringgateNews
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