Iowa has begun its brand new journey in a Caitlin Clark-less era. The new Hawkeyes will try to find their footing going forward this season but under new head coach Jan Jensen, the team has already secured their first win against Northern Illinois. However, despite the 91-73 win, the team ran into trouble early on, barely making the final cut. Per Jensen, there are some things the team needs to work on.

In the post-game press conference, a reporter asked how Lisa Bluder’s successor would grade the current team. At first, saying that she would never rate a movie before watching it, Jan Jensen did give some details about what the team’s strategy was yesterday. “We had some moments but we really just lacked a lot of consistency. And that’s the thing I would grade as pretty low – inconsistency.”

She continued, “I think when we were working on our actions within our offense, we had too many one-pass shots. But when we really worked our offense and we did that consistently, we got a few runs.” Lucy Olsen, the transfer guard from Villanova supposed to ‘succeed’ Clark, was one of the stars of the night who scored a team-high 19 points and 7 assists.

Overall, the team showed great strength but the night was not without its struggles. “Defensively, when we put our heads down and had a presence in there, then we were pretty good but it was the lack of consistency. So I’d give us a lower grade in that,” Jensen said.

After all, the new team is “still trying to figure out ‘Who your people are’. Right? We have a lot of depth but you’re trying to figure out how and when and who and what combination.”

When All-Big Ten forward Hannah Stuelke stepped off the court for about 15 minutes after twisting her ankle due to landing awkwardly on someone’s foot, fans lost heart. Senior guard Sydney Affolter was already missing in action after going under the knife for her knee this offseason. But even in her absence, the team ultimately showed and Stuelke also returned, finishing with 11 points and 6 rebounds.

But this was just the first game. “So we’re kind of messing with it. And then you got something going but you wanna try that piece. So I think this game, we might have set everybody up for that inconsistency a bit,” as Jensen put it. And her new transfer guard agrees.

Much like Jan Jensen, Lucy Olsen knows hard times are usually a given

Iowa has a lot of pressure on its shoulders this season, having to prove it can survive in the post-Caitlin Clark era. Given Jan Jensen is a new coach, with a lot of new players under her, the runner-ups to the last two NCAA Finals will have to figure out what works for them sooner rather than later. And Lucy Olsen is ready for it.

“It would have been great if we won by 35,” she said after the game. “But … we know what we need to work on now, and you got to fight through the hard times and figure it out. Not everything’s going to go exactly how you want it.”

Caitlin Clark may have put the sport on the map like never before, but Iowa existed long before her. Even if the Hawkeyes are beginning the season not in the Top 25 for the first time in years, Jan Jensen and Co. will just have to change the fact. Last night might not go down as the best debut in history, but all things considered, they did end up winning, and that too by a huge margin.