IOWA CITY — A program’s culture truly becomes impeccable when it can survive both ends of the emotional spectrum. It’s easy to tout core values during the best of times. Whether they hold up when adversity invades is arguably more significant.

Such is the current test for Iowa women’s basketball as it slogs through a Big Ten skid full of concerning elements. Everything that fueled the Hawkeyes’ recent ascension is under the microscope amid Iowa’s first three-game losing streak in seven years. Sunday’s 74-67 home stumble to Indiana extended several troubling trends.

The “everyone matters” mantra has turned into “no lead dog capable of stabilizing things” when things go awry. The riveting Carver-Hawkeye Arena crowds designed to aid a developing team are generating clunky home starts with mounting pressure to perform. Iowa’s elite offensive standard that goes back well beyond the last two historical seasons isn’t being met in the slightest. In fact, piling up points has been the Hawkeyes’ most glaring issue.

Iowa’s program pillars weren’t constructed overnight, nor are they going to crumble after one tough stretch in mid-January with ample basketball left. But this is clearly a different test than what’s been recently experienced. What has arrived is a bit harsher than what was projected, and it’s on Iowa to weather the storm.

“All three of these losses have been such different losses, and we’re trying to learn a lot from each,” said junior guard Taylor McCabe, one of Sunday’s few bright spots with 15 points off the bench. “Compared to last year, I think this team is so different. I don’t think we ever stop fighting. The Iowa culture is definitely still there. That’s something we’re going to keep building off.

“I still think it’s pretty early on, and we have plenty of season left. So we’re not going to let this affect us too much.”

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Taylor McCabe, Taylor Stremlow gave Iowa a chance in loss to Indiana:

McCabe knocked down four 3-pointers and led the Hawkeyes with 15 points, while Stremlow had seven points, nine rebounds and five steals.

Hawkeyes schedule only gets harder after January

The various reactions from those invested in Iowa women’s basketball depend on what hat is worn. Countless fans offer different degrees of freakout, ranging from justifiable concerns to illogical thoughts of a coaching change and multiple decommits. The Hawkeyes became experts on mitigating outside noise during the Caitlin Clark years. That objective doesn’t change here.

Elsewhere, coach Jan Jensen and her players continue an ongoing stream of positivity that at least carries some legitimacy. Remember, inconsistency was to be expected with an extensive roster reset and a first-year head coach. Assessing January’s reality with the same energy as October’s forecast is understandable to some degree. And the Hawkeyes are correct that more than enough time remains for this stretch to become a distant memory by March.

Somewhere between the extremes is where the Hawkeyes’ urgency should lie. It’s fair to outline the opportunity Iowa has up ahead, while acknowledging these stumbles are happening in what is clearly the Hawkeyes’ easier month of Big Ten action. As of now, February features three top-10 foes and only one game against a team definitely not going to the NCAA Tournament.

January was supposed to be the win-stacking month against squads that looked more like the Hawkeyes, rather than the Big Ten’s elite upper crust. With three toss-up games still remaining this month against Nebraska, Oregon and Washington before a perceived breather versus cellar-dweller Northwestern, it’s hard to envision Iowa’s current product trekking into February with confidence that high-end upsets are coming.

It’s crucial that Iowa’s veterans step up

As much as the Hawkeyes’ freshman injection has provided some promise amid futility, this turnaround starts at the top of the roster. All five starters, four seniors and a junior, have been liabilities for extended stretches in ways not previously seen. Whatever the reason — inability to adjust from the past, reluctance to disrupt Iowa’s traditional fun-loving energy, overwhelming pressure to uphold the Hawkeyes’ recent standard — Sunday’s loss felt like a crossroads as many of those veterans watched Iowa’s closing stretch from the bench.

“I’ve got to get them in better positions where they are a little bit more confident, the vets,” Jensen said. “But I do think the promise of our youth, what they’re doing is really, really hopeful. The old saying is you can wait for a break, or you can create a break. I’d sure love to get a break here or there in this conference season. But I’ve got to keep working to create a break too.”

Things haven’t fully spiraled yet, but the start of a damaging avalanche often looks like this. The historical context only gets uglier the longer these struggles go. A loss to Nebraska on Thursday would mark Iowa’s first four-game losing streak since February 2016 and first time dropping three consecutive home games since February 2013.

Conquering the mental battle is as crucial as anything directly happening on the floor — and there’s plenty to correct there. What direction this season goes will depend on how strong the structure in place is.

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.

Indiana women’s basketball coach made it clear that just because some of the star power left the scene from the annual Indiana-Iowa game doesn’t mean the Hoosiers took their task on Sunday at Carver-Hawkeye Arena any less seriously.

Indiana’s approach paid dividends in a 74-67 victory for the Hoosiers, their third Big Ten road victory of the season.

Teri Moren spoke to the media about the game about the triumph. Here’s what she had to say.

Opening statement …

Moren: Once again, a great crowd for Iowa. They make this place such a difficult place to win. And we’ve been on the other end of this several times, so it feels really good today to be on the other side of it and get out of here with the win. Really proud of our our guys and how hard they played. We kept the lead, we built the lead, we kept it, we didn’t lose the lead, but they obviously came crawling back at us. I felt like we just made big play after big play after big play. Of course, Yarden (Garzon) had a special night, but she’s a special player as we know. But I thought all of them. I thought Syd Parrish, Strip (Karoline Striplin) making the shot when we were only up (four) with a minute to go at the end of the shot clock. That was a huge, huge play for us. I thought Shay (Ciezki), although didn’t shoot the ball great tonight was good defensively. We’re just happy to get out of here with a win. Really pleased with my group, how hard they played. This is a difficult league, as you guys all know. Iowa is was going to be just fine. But tonight, we’re happy to be getting back on that plane and headed back to Bloomington with the win game.

On closing a late-game situation …

Moren: I think it gives our kids great confidence. But as I said to our staff, I was disappointed. We have to be so much better in late game scenarios, situations as a staff. And I thought today we failed them with that. We have to be on point with what the strategy is in those moments. Where the ball needs to be and whose hands it needs to be in and so forth. I think we were all a little bit caught off guard that they didn’t foul us and put us at the free throw line. Everybody has different strategies, right? We got to be better, but I got to be better. Our staff has to be better in order to help those kids. But I think for them, with the outcome, they’re probably thinking about the end of the game. They’re probably just thinking about getting out of here with the win.

On Indiana’s defensive effort in holding Iowa to 33.9% shooting …

Moren: That’s every night in the Big 10. You have to have a tremendous defensive effort. Playing here, playing Iowa, was no different. We knew it was going to take a great effort from every one of us. There were moments where we gave up some stuff, but they’re really good. They’re really good offensively, and they got great tradition, and Jan (Jansen) is doing a terrific job. Very competitive environment, and the crowd just makes it that much better because of how much they’re into it. But part of our strategy was to try to keep the crowd as quiet as we could today, and we did, and then we didn’t at times. Our bugaboo right now is the rebounding. I think, the third game, fourth game that we’ve gotten out rebounding. And so we’ve got to fix that.

On a technical foul on Iowa’s Sydney Affholter …

Moren: They didn’t even give me an explanation. I think you know she had scored, so I think there was probably some excitement on her part. And I think you’re not supposed to ever touch the ball after that. Normally, it is a warning, but I don’t know if they felt it was excessive. I kind of missed it, and so they didn’t really give me an explanation, I’m sure you’d have to ask Jan that.

On Karoline Striplin …

Moren: She was, as Shay was, such a great piece for us to get out of the portal. She’s been steady defensively. They (Striplin and Lilly Meister) have different frames, right? So they guard differently in the fact that they both guard hard, but Lilly doesn’t have the girth, I guess, that that Strip has. Offensively, a little bit different, but they can both stretch it out, even though you didn’t see him do that tonight. Strip has hit some big time shots for us. She was perfect at Penn State. But the one tonight, at the end of the shot clock, the one in the first half on the baby baseline there, that was a big shot for us as well. She’s been dependable and we’re so grateful that she chose to come here and spend her last year with us.

On Chloe Moore-McNeil …

Moren: She’s our leader. And we’ve been on the other side of this, as you guys know, right? She and Syd both were that more determined today to come in here and not go home without a win. She’s our heartbeat. She’s our leader. And once again, she was really good.

On Sydney Parrish playing with foul trouble …

Moren: Syd’s really smart, a high IQ kit and so understands how important it is for her to be in the game for us. There’s a lot of trust there with Syd, trusting that she’s not going to be reckless and pick up some cheap foul that she can play within herself, but still help us and still be aggressive. And then Yarden was just – the other night against Northwestern, where she was not very good, she’d be the first one to tell you that. She had six turnovers, didn’t shoot it great. So for her to bounce back, but that’s just Yarden. Yarden is built for moments, right? Somebody asked about her first one, even if that didn’t go in, she was going to keep shooting because that’s just Yarden. Tonight she certainly had a special night.

After the star battles of recent seasons, did it help to have the heat turned down a bit for this season’s matchup …

Moren: Well, I don’t know who turned it down. We certainly didn’t. We have a tremendous amount of respect for Iowa. Always have. Even though Lisa (Bluder, former Iowa coach) is no longer here, we have a tremendous amount of respect. Jan was on her left side for a lot of years. This is an excellent program that’s been left in excellent hands. We didn’t approach it any different. We really didn’t. It was, we’re going to go into a place where the crowd is going to be into it, they’re going to be terrific, and our job is to go in there and try to keep them as quiet as we could. I don’t know who said that but that is never a conversation in in our locker room.

2025 kicker out of Bettendorf, Caden Buhr committed to Iowa as a preferred walk-on (PWO) on Sunday morning. A five-star prospect according to Kohl’s Kicking, Buhr is set to serve as depth at the position behind Drew Stevens this coming season. He will enroll in January.

Buhr also received interest from Arkansas, Missouri and Vanderbilt prior to his commitment.

One of the top kicker’s in the state of Iowa the last two seasons, Buhr earned first-team all-state honors the last two seasons in class 5A. He also made a school-record 57-yard field goal as a senior.

During his junior campaign for the Bulldogs, Buhr made 7-of-9 field goal attempts with a long of 52 yards and made 40-of-43 extra point attempts. He also booted 61 kickoffs with 49 touchbacks. He also punted 30 times for 1,114 yards, an average of 37.1 yards per punt.

As a senior, he made 6-of-11 field goals, with the aforementioned career long of 57 yards. He made 18-of-20 extra point attempts, and registered a touchback on 28-of-31 kickoffs. Buhr punted the ball nine times for 373 yards, an average of 41.4 yards per boot.