Iowa State guard Kenzie Hare talks about playing Syracuse
Iowa State guard Kenzie Hare talks about the Cyclones facing Syracuse in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
STORRS, Conn. ― Iowa State women’s basketball entered the 2025-26 season with heavy expectations.
After bringing back the bulk of their roster, the Cyclones were expected to make a run at a Big 12 Conference title.
While that never happened, they can still turn their disappointing season around.
Iowa State, an 8-seed, is looking to make a run through March Madness. The Cyclones will begin that quest against 9-seed Syracuse in the first round at Harry A. Gampel Pavilion in Storrs, Conn., on Saturday, March 21. Tip-off is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. CT.
“It’s a fresh start,” said Iowa State forward Addy Brown. “Coming in, we’re 0-0. We’re going to come into it with a fresh mindset.”
The tournament is a fresh opportunity for Iowa State. Injuries to Brown and guard Arianna Jackson derailed a season for the once-top-10 team.
The Cyclones dropped five-straight games at one point, tumbled out of the rankings and the Big 12 standings. Even when they got to full strength, they struggled, falling in the second round of the Big 12 Tournament. Iowa State still racked up 22 wins and picked up victories over ranked foes ― Iowa and Texas Tech.
None of it was enough to fix a 10-8 mark in Big 12 play, though. But the NCAA Tournament is a new opportunity for the Cyclones to make their mark. The core group of Brown and Jackson, along with star Audi Crooks, helped the team earn a first-round win two years ago.
Last season, Iowa State won a game during the First Four before falling in the Round of 64. Even though this regular season didn’t live up to the hype, March is where real legacies are made.
“We told our kids, we all know the world we live in,” Iowa State coach Bill Fennelly said recently. “They’re all talking and looking at things. You want to be a good player, people remember March. They remember what you do this time of year. Yeah, we’re disappointed in the middle of the year. We weren’t the team when the calendar went to 2026.”
The hope is that they are now. Brown and Jackson are back on the court and the Cyclones are about as close to full strength as they can be. They’ll need to be to topple a tough Syracuse team. Even if Iowa State wins that, they’ll likely face top seed UConn for a chance to go to the Sweet 16.
Still, they believe this team is capable of anything. So, they’ve moved on from the regular season and focused on the postseason.
“We’re going to forget about what happened early in the season,” Brown said. “We can’t change it now. So, we might as well focus on what’s ahead of us.
“We’re just going to go out there and compete and play our style of basketball. It’s gotten us this far. So, why change now?”
Here are three things to follow in Iowa State’s showdown with Syracuse on Saturday:
Iowa State guard Jada Willimas talks about taking on Syracuse
Iowa State guard Jada Williams talks about her team’s matchup with Syracuse in the NCAA Tournament.
Slowing down Uche Izoje will be important
Iowa State faces a tall task, literally, in trying to slow down 6-foot-3 center Uche Izoje. The freshman has become one of the best players in the nation, earning ACC Rookie of the Year honors while averaging 15.5 points, 9.4 rebounds and 2.6 blocks per game. Izoje can play away from the hoop and doesn’t just bring scoring. She also provides incredible shot-altering plays.
“It’s going to be a good one,” Crooks said of the matchup.
Iowa State has to rebound better
Rebounding has been a big issue for Iowa State this season. The Cyclones ranked 13th in the Big 12 in offensive rebounds (10.2 per game) and seventh in combined rebounding (38 per game). Posing an even bigger problem is that Syracuse has done a great job in that department. The Orange rank seventh in the nation in offensive rebounding (16.8 per game).
“The way they rebound the ball is a problem for us,” Fennelly said.
Can Iowa State take better care of the ball?
Iowa State has been at its worst when it’s turning the ball over. During the Big 12 Tournament loss to Arizona State, the Cyclones turned it over 14 times. That was usually the common denominator in a lot of the team’s setbacks this season. So, it’s especially concerning with how well Syracuse plays defense. The Orange ranked second in the ACC in steals (10.6) and turnovers forced per game (18.9).
Tommy Birch, the Register’s sports enterprise and features reporter, has been working at the newspaper since 2008. He’s the 2018, 2020, 2023 and 2025 Iowa Sportswriter of the Year. Reach him at [email protected] or 515-284-8468.
