BIG TEN CONFERENCE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT

March 7, 2026

Jan Jensen

Hannah Stuelke

Taylor Stremlow

Gainbridge Fieldhouse

Iowa Hawkeyes

Postgame Press Conference

Iowa - 59, Michigan - 42

THE MODERATOR: We'll go ahead and welcome Iowa to the press conference, Coach Jan Jensen and student-athletes Hannah Stuelke and Taylor Stremlow.

JAN JENSEN: I'm just extremely proud of my group. Michigan, I have the utmost respect for Kim and her staff. They've been my favorite team to watch all year long with the way they play with pace. I recruited Olivia Olson. She's just a great player, great kid, like so many teams in the Big Ten.

But for our group, I thought we really started out with defensive tenacity again. So many people asked me, when we beat them at home, they said, what was the secret or what was the -- you know, what did you do? I just said we really tried to make it hard, really tried to guard. I knew that we had to do that same thing.

These guys knew the scout. They knew what we wanted to do and who we wanted to do it on. I'm just so proud, again, that they're knowing the scout and executing. I'm thrilled and grateful we got that win.

Q. To either of you, what allowed you guys to really pull away in that fourth quarter?

TAYLOR STREMLOW: I think Coach really challenged us in the timeout going into that fourth quarter just to step up, take care of the ball, take good shots. I think that fourth quarter especially, it's just about the heart. Our team has a lot of heart, a lot of passion.

I think channeling that into making good decisions and making big plays honestly is kind of what happened for us.

HANNAH STUELKE: I think also we turned up our defensive intensity. I thought that was a big part of the whole game. They're a really great scoring team. So limiting their points obviously helps.

Q. Hannah, we saw you had that huge and one and put on a big celebration. What was your emotion in that moment?

HANNAH STUELKE: Yeah, I think I was just excited. Always good to get an and-one and then make the free throw. That's really important.

JAN JENSEN: You made that, baby.

HANNAH STUELKE: But I think just we were all working so hard. It was kind of a crazy play. It went through her legs, and we didn't mean to do that, but it worked out in our favor.

Q. What does this program and having one more run mean to you?

HANNAH STUELKE: I think it means everything getting that one last game in the Big Ten and having a chance to get another ring would be -- I think it's going to be really fun tomorrow getting to play. Just stepping out on the court anytime is just super fun.

Q. It is not easy to hold Syla Swords to 9 points and Olivia Olson to 10 points. What was the strategy that you did during the game to really have them off their game?

TAYLOR STREMLOW: I was going to say, the strategy was Kylie Feuerbach and Chit-Chat, right? But I think Chat, Kylie, really stepped up this game defensively and took their scout seriously, played exactly how we needed to play and helped us win this game.

Q. Hannah, you're dealing with an illness. You have an elbow injury. There's a level of physicality in this game. What is your mentality to keep pushing and fighting in this game?

HANNAH STUELKE: I think I just want to work hard for my teammates. They work hard for me every single day. There's just a wall. You've got to push through it, get to the next play, and do anything I can just for my teammates.

Q. Jan, what did you see out of your team in the fourth quarter? Was there a certain spark that really allowed you guys to pull away?

JAN JENSEN: I don't get really hot with my team too often, but when I called that timeout early in the third quarter, I told them the only time I usually get feisty is when I see us leaning back. When Michigan made their run and then they took that one-point lead, and then the rest of the third quarter kind of went back and forth. Then Michigan was ahead, I think, by one going into the fourth.

Then in that fourth quarter, to start it, I just had everybody do a zen moment, and I just said, look, this whole summer, this is what we've been working for. We need to go out there -- it's all loosened up a little bit. By this time we were starting to see a little bit more glimpses how we could get it inside.

So I challenged our bigs, I said, look, we haven't looked as sharp knowing what to do when they do a flat double, they're sagging off - I call it that, we do, our staff - our person at the height, the post. We were just so tight, which is what a good defense does. They just started to really, I think, drop their shoulders. I could kind of see it.

That's where I just think -- I said we've just got to be us. I think we had more attention to the high-low game for them looking for each other. I wanted to get us in some ball screen actions that weren't with the 5 as much because they do such a great job of really, really hard hedging, and most of the time trapping Chat, and they really paid attention.

Then we hit some tough shots. I mean, how big were Taylor Stremlow's 3s, right?

Q. Michigan's press has been something on the top of the scouting report. How were you guys able to find success against that in this game and then obviously a couple weeks ago?

JAN JENSEN: I'll tell you, what's unique about the tournament, when you have game plan, you can usually get two days just to focus on your next opponent. Michigan, their press is, as you say, really good. Ohio State has a really good press. We'll see it periodically from other teams in the Big.

So you can't really practice it so much. That's what I was really so nervous about. I thought, oh, boy. Because I couldn't really go up-and-down, I just mentioned our press break and how we were going to handle it. I think from the moment shootaround ended until the game tipped off, I think that's what I was so stressed about. I was battling in my mind, you should have gone up-and-down. You should have risked the legs.

I think you just get to this point in the season, and they've been there. We handled it at home after the first quarter for the most part, and it was kind of the same way today here. They got us a few times on it, but more often than not, we were able to break it, get through, and we have a good ball handling big in Hannah, and I think that's what is a little bit of a help for us is that Hannah, she doesn't hesitate and get worried about it. We throw it back to her, and she just brings it up with pace.

So I think two things; we've had experience throughout the whole Big, different presses, but it's that duress you're under. But then you get to this point, and you've got to rely on that, and then Hannah is a good ball-handling big.

Q. Hannah had such a great game today, and she's been through so much with you and the program. What does she mean to you as the coach?

JAN JENSEN: Hannah is like a daughter. I don't know if you read much about us, but she came to our little basketball camps, this svelte athlete, the little kid camps, and just played with that tenacity. You kind of had your eye on her, but they're little, right?

But then she came to our elite camp. She lived 30 minutes down the road, so you just know her a little bit longer than some of the others. Just watching her ascension has been really great. Just like all your players, they become like daughters to you.

But Hannah's rise has been fun because she's not a real outspoken kid. Her freshman year, she wasn't this loud in a press conference. It's not that she's the loudest and is going to give you the longest answers. Strem will take that duty. But she's really leaned into her leadership role, for her to put that team on her back in the fourth quarter.

Really, I'm glad you asked about her sickness and her injury. That's just a senior willing it to happen because she was sick, and that elbow still doesn't feel great.