By JOHN BOHNENKAMP

Iowa’s Big Ten women’s basketball schedule features six Sunday home games this season.

The full 18-game conference schedule, released on Thursday, includes games at Carver-Hawkeye Arena against Big Ten newcomers USC and UCLA, who are expected to be in the top five of the preseason national rankings.

The Hawkeyes, who have made back-to-back appearances in the NCAA national championship game, open Big Ten play on December 15 at Michigan State. The conference home opener is December 29 against Purdue.

USC will play at Iowa on February 2, with UCLA coming in on February 23. The Hawkeyes’ games against the other two newcomers, Oregon (Jan. 19) and Washington (Jan. 22), will be on the road.

Other schedule notes:

• The Hawkeyes will play back-to-back road games twice — at Oregon and Washington, and at Minnesota (February 6) and Nebraska (February 10).

• Iowa will play on New Year’s Day at Penn State. It is the team’s first Jan. 1 game in two seasons.

• The Hawkeyes will play host to their first three conference games on Sundays (Purdue , Maryland (January 5) and Indiana (January 12).

The schedule:

December 15 — at Michigan State

December 29 — Purdue

January 1 — at Penn State

January 5 — Maryland

January 9 — at Illinois

January 12 — Indiana

January 16 — Nebraska

January 19 — at Oregon

January 22 — at Washington

January 28 — Northwestern

February 2 — USC

February 6 — at Minnesota

February 10 — at Nebraska

February 13 — Rutgers

February 17 — at Ohio State

February 23 — UCLA

February 26 — at Michigan

March 2 — Wisconsin

Photo: Sydney Affolter is one of the returning players for Iowa this season. (Keith Gillett/Icon Sportswire)