By JOHN BOHNENKAMP

A two-game homestand with USC and UCLA in February highlights the Big Ten schedule for the Iowa women’s basketball team.

The Big Ten released the conference schedule on Wednesday.

The Hawkeyes open conference play with a December 5 home game against Nebraska, then don’t play a conference game again until a December 29 road game against Illinois.

The games against USC on February 11 and UCLA on February 14 are expected to be a key stretch for the Hawkeyes. USC, with JuJu Watkins returning, was ranked No. 6 in ESPN’s way-too-early-Top-25 in the spring. UCLA is the defending Big Ten and national champion.

Jan Jensen heads into her third season as Iowa’s head coach. The Hawkeyes went 27-7 last season and finished in a tie for second place in the Big Ten.

Other features of the conference schedule:

• The Hawkeyes’ West Coast road swing will have a January 24 game at Oregon and a January 27 game at Washington.

• Iowa has four Sunday home games — UCLA, Indiana (January 17), Wisconsin (January 31) and Purdue (February 21).

• Nebraska is the lone home-and-home team for the Hawkeyes in the 18-game conference schedule.

• The Big Ten Tournament will be played March 3-7 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, the first time the conference tournament has been played there. The top 15 teams in the conference standings will qualify for the tournament.

The complete schedule:

Nov. 2 — Towson

Nov. 5 — Eastern Illinois

Nov. 8 — at UConn

Nov. 12 — Northern Iowa

Nov. 15 — Vanderbilt at Sioux City

Nov. 19 — Montana State

Nov. 23 — vs. Utah at the Baha Mar Hoops Tournament in Nassau, Bahamas

Nov. 25 — vs. Navy at the Baha Mar Hoops Tournament in Nassau, Bahamas

Dec. 1 — at Drake

Dec. 5 — Nebraska

Dec. 9 — Iowa State

Dec. 13 — Southern

Dec. 20 — Northern Illinois

Dec. 29 — at Illinois

Jan. 1 — at Michigan State

Jan. 5 — Rutgers

Jan. 9 — at Minnesota

Jan. 14 — Northwestern

Jan. 17 — Indiana

Jan. 24 — at Oregon

Jan. 27 — at Washington

Jan. 31 — Wisconsin

Feb. 4 — at Nebraska

Feb. 7 — at Michigan

Feb. 11 — USC

Feb. 14 — UCLA

Feb. 18 — at Penn State

Feb. 21 — Purdue

Feb. 25 — Maryland

Feb. 28 — at Ohio State

Photo: Jan Jensen heads into her third season as Iowa’s head coach. (Keith Gillett/Icon Sportswire)