By JOHN BOHNENKAMP

Jan Jensen will be tested in her first season as Iowa’s new head women’s basketball coach.

The Hawkeyes’ nonconference schedule has five neutral-court games and one road game. Five of Iowa’s opponents this season played in the NCAA Tournament last season.

Throw in a Big Ten schedule that has five teams in ESPN’s way-too-early top 25, including two in the top five, and Iowa will see plenty of top programs this season.

The Hawkeyes are coming off a second consecutive run to the NCAA national championship game. Iowa won a school-record 34 games last season and returns starters Hannah Stuelke (14 ppg, 6.6 rpg) and guard Sydney Affolter (8.4 ppg, 6.6 rpg). 

The Hawkeyes have six home games, including a December 11 game against Iowa State (21-12, 31 NET in 2023-24), a team that came in 10th in ESPN’s rankings.

Iowa opens the season at home against Northern Illinois (15-16, 246 NET)  on November 6. The Hawkeyes then play Virginia Tech (25-8, 19 NET) in the Ally Tipoff in Charlotte, N.C., the second consecutive year the two teams have met in the event.

Iowa has a November 13 home game against Mid-American Conference regular-season champion Toledo (28-6, 66 NET) before its lone road game at Missouri Valley Conference champion Drake (29-6, 65 NET) on November 17. The Hawkeyes then travel to Sioux Falls, S.D., to play Kansas (20-13, 38 NET) at the Sanford Pentagon on November 20.

The Hawkeyes play host to Washington State (21-15, 33 NET) on November 24 before heading off to Cancun, Mexico, to play Rhode Island (21-14, 76 NET) and BYU (16-17, 83 NET) in the Cancun Challenge on November 28-29

Iowa then plays Tennessee (20-13, 26 NET) at the Women’s Champions Classic in Brooklyn, N.Y., on December 7 before coming home to play Iowa State.

The nonconference schedule concludes with a December 20 game against Northern Iowa (16-16, 99 NET) at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

Iowa has one exhibition game, playing host to Missouri Western on October 30.

Photo: Iowa forward Hannah Stuelke (45) drives to the basket around West Virginia guard Jayla Hemingway in the second round of the NCAA Tournament last season. (Keith Gillett/Icon Sportswire)