PROGRAM QUICK HITS
• Iowa broke the WBB all-time attendance record for a single game with 55,646 on hand for the Crossover at Kinnick exhibition against DePaul.
• Iowa advanced to its first National Championship appearance in program history in 2023.
• Iowa netted a program best 31 victories in a single season in 2023.
• Iowa won its third Big Ten Tournament title since 2019, over Ohio State which was the largest margin of victory in BTT Championship history. It was also the first time in program history that the Hawkeyes won the tournament championship in back-to-back years.
• The Hawkeyes led the country in field-goal percentage (51.1), scoring offense (87.3), and assists per game (20.9). They ranked in the top-10 in three additional categories, fourth in assist to turnover ratio (1.46), seventh in 3-point field goal percentage (38.0), and seventh 3-pointers per game (9.2).
• Since 2008, Bluder’s teams own a 230-42 record inside of Carver-Hawkeye Arena. In that stretch, the Hawkeyes have posted three undefeated seasons at home.
• Over the last nine years, Iowa has dropped the second-fewest regular season home games in the Big Ten.
• Iowa was 17-1 last season at CHA.
• Iowa’s 2023-24 roster is comprised of two fifth-year, one graduate, one senior, five juniors, three sophomores, and two freshmen. Four Hawkeyes are Iowa natives, four from Illinois, two from Michigan, and one each from Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, Ohio.
• Six Big Ten regular-season games will be on a nationally broadcast platform (either NBC or FOX), the most in conference history. The Hawkeyes are featured in four of the six contests – Indiana (Jan. 13/FOX), at Ohio State (Jan. 21/NBC), at Maryland (Feb. 3/FOX), Ohio State (March 3/FOX).
• Iowa has had five out of the last six Big Ten Players of the Year.
• The Hawkeyes had a nation’s best six wins against AP Top 10 opponents last season.
• For the first time in the Lisa Bluder era, the Hawkeyes won 15 Big Ten regular season conference games in 2022-23.
• Bluder owns a 494-249 (.665) record and a 247-141 (.637) conference mark at Iowa. In her 39 seasons as a head coach, Bluder is 850-391 (.685).
THIS WEEK
The Hawkeyes are set to host the FDU Knights inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena for its season opener on Monday. Tip-off is set for 6:30 p.m. (CT) on BTN+ and will air on the Hawkeye Radio Network.
THE SERIES
• This will be the first meeting between the two programs.
SCOUTING FDU
• The Knights were picked fourth in the 2023-24 Northeast Conference Preseason Coaches Poll.
• FDU looks to continue their reign of the NEC as the back-to-back regular season conference champions.
• FDU returns five from last season’s squad with Mia Andrews, Abaigeal Babore, Abby Conklin, Dominique García Blackwood and Allie McGinn.
• Stephanie Gaitley enters her first season leading the women’s basketball program at FDU.
• The Knights went 24-8 last season, including 14 NEC victories en route to the pro-gram’s second WNIT bid in as many seasons.
• After an offseason coaching change, Gaitley’s staff went right to work to bring in nine new faces to the program, including three transfers with a combined six years of collegiate experience.
• Among the transfers is Teneisia Brown who spent one year on Merrimack’s roster and was named to the Preseason All-NEC squad last season.
COURT OF DREAMS
• Season tickets for the 2023-24 University of Iowa women’s basketball team are officially sold out.
• Seven of Iowa women’s basketball nine sellout crowds inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena have happened in the last three seasons, with the other two coming in 1985 and 1988.
• Iowa has been ranked in the national attendance top 10 each of the past four seasons
with fans (2023, 2022, 2021, 2019). The No. 2 ranking last season is the highest in the Lisa Bluder era. (11,143)
• Iowa City’s first round attendance last year was higher than nine of the 16 sites’ first/second round combined attendance figure.
• Iowa City owns four of the top 10 second round, single session attendance numbers in NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Championship history.