IOWA CITY: Iowa withstood a hot shooting night from visiting Northwestern and held on for an 85-80 victory at Carver-Hawkeye Arena Tuesday night. Hannah Stuelke scored a game-high 26 points in her first game back from a concussion suffered against Nebraska, while freshman Aaliyah Guyton registered career highs in points (15) and minutes played (31) in the win.

Northwestern, who came into the game making less than 30% of its three-pointers, went 9-for-15 from deep for the game, including 4-for-5 in the first quarter, helping the heavy underdog Wildcats keep pace for 40 minutes.

"It would be an error for me to come in and critique any win," said head coach Jan Jensen. "Look at us, man. We're pretty young, we're trying to figure it out, our confidence — I mean, I'm thrilled. We've shown some growth. ... I'm proud of our team. I'm thankful. Whatever's on the front of that [opponent's] jersey just says, 'Tough Opponent.'"

1. Hannah Stuelke is this team's 5. Any questions about Jensen moving Stuelke back to the 5 were answered within 20 minutes of Tuesday's game, as Iowa's starting center had 18 points and six rebounds by halftime — double the scoring of the rest of the starters combined at that point. That workload balanced out over the duration of the game, of course, but it was obvious Northwestern had no Plan A on defense for #45.

Stuelke's big game was not only a welcome return to health for the junior from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, but exactly the sort of breakout performance Jensen had been hoping to see prior to Stuelke's concussion on January 16.

"It's unfortunate she got the concussion," said Jensen. "I don't know what would have happened at the end of that game, but I liked how we were flowing. I thought our offense was a little bit better, and I thought she was coming."

Stuelke said she started working out again last Wednesday, the day of Iowa's victory over Washington, and that she was cleared shortly thereafter. The rest of the Hawkeyes were clearly eager for her return.

"My teammates were getting me the ball all the time," said Stuelke. "Aaliyah, we have a connection on the court, and that's been really special to build and work on."

Stuelke only missed a pair of games after the concussion, but the absence was enough to drive her to a level of madness all too familiar for fans.

"It was really weird watching them on TV, yelling at the TV, because I've never experienced that before," said Stuelke with a laugh. "But I missed the girls a lot, and it's just really nice being back out on the court with them."

Jensen also saw Stuelke's competitive fire reignite after coming back from the injury, which included only returning to full contact in practice on Monday — meaning she may not have been able to play a weekend game, had one been scheduled like usual.

"I don't think I've seen her as excited as when she got cleared, in a long time," said Jensen. "There was just a new sense of appreciation. And like, 'that was awful,' 'I don't want to sit out,' all the things."

Stuelke went 6-for-6 at the free throw line Tuesday, including Iowa's last two points of the game with 8.9 seconds left, essentially sealing the game. Stuelke even held her release pose on the last attempt — a remarkable, yet earned display of self-confidence from the career 61% free-throw shooter. Full splash, of course.

"It's everything, especially knowing my history with the free throws," said Stuelke. "My whole life history, I've always struggled, so that's all I worked on this summer with my injury. I'm confident in myself, and my teammates are confident in me, so there's no way it's not going in."

"Free throws are a funny thing, and confidence is a funny thing — it can be contagious one way or the other," said Jensen. "I joked to Hannah after the game, 'it's a little easier when you're not seeing two of them, right?'

No matter how well Stuelke took advantage of her first game back with her teammates, that boost has an obviously swift shelf life, and the real test of Stuelke's return to the 5 will be her game-to-game consistency over the rest of the schedule: a four-week, eight-game, season-defining sprint to the Big Ten Tournament.

"I want to keep getting better, and we certainly need to," said Jensen. "Obviously we have a heck of an opponent coming up. This particular team, we need to definitely improve on areas where we're not great, but we need to celebrate what we do do well. And if this team can get a win, I'm on board."

2. Small-ball musical chairs. If Stuelke is the biggest beneficiary of Iowa's return to small ball, Sydney Affolter is a close second, as Iowa's "Big Dog" scored 13 points with six rebounds and five assists on Tuesday and has averaged 9.0 points, 9.5 rebounds and 2.5 assists in the last four games.

"Now she's going against 4s," said Jensen. "That [small ball] shift isn't just for Hannah and for us to play faster, it allows Syd to take a bigger kid off the bounce. It allows her to use her versatility."

Affolter has grown her "bag" substantially since becoming a Hawkeye, and she's been a reliable asset as a spot-up three-point shooter even before Tuesday night's exemplary 3-for-4 performance.

Affolter's limitations as a perimeter facilitator are still apparent, though — she's not a plus-level passer on judgment or precision, and her tunnel vision on dribble drives makes her easier for athletic guards to defend — and moving her role closer to that of seasons past is, at this point, a matter of setting both Affolter and the team up to succeed.

"If she's playing the 3, sometimes she's matched up with a 2," said Jensen. "Sometimes you get a [defensive] switch that you don't always prefer. So I do think that could benefit her. Kate Martin played the 4 for us, and when Martin shifted to the 4, a lot of good things happened."

Not everybody gets to benefit from a reallocation of minutes, and thus far the first casualty of Post Rotation Musical Chairs appears to be freshman center Ava Heiden, who was a healthy scratch Tuesday as well as the Nebraska game — the last time Stuelke started at the 5.

"Tonight, Addi [O'Grady] was holding her own and giving a little different look with her physicality in there," said Jensen, who also mentioned Iowa's inability to stretch the lead as a factor in Heiden's DNP-CD.

Indeed, with Iowa now sitting at one too many quality centers, someone's minutes are going to suffer for it. Jensen has been adamant that O'Grady didn't play her way out of the rotation; again, it's about putting as many players in position to succeed as possible, and unless size dictates otherwise for defensive purposes, that means Stuelke starting at the 5.

With that the case, then, it also stands to reason that Heiden didn't earn her way out of the rotation either, and her gifts as a post defender are still unique on the team. Iowa didn't need them Tuesday, but when it does, it'll need them for more minutes at a time than a third-string center usually gets.

"That's the thing with our young kids, they've just got to stay ready," said Jensen. "[Heiden] could have a big role to play against a bouncy, athletic, very good team, USC. So that's the hard part when you've got a deeper team. Sometimes you just aren't able to give them the minutes. Ava, I'm sure she's disappointed that she didn't play, but that's what you want them to be. I think she'll be ready when we need her, though."

3. Worth Aal the hype. For as much as Jensen lauds each member of her precocious 2024 freshman class, Guyton stands alone with the level of trust she's earned — even with the least amount of full practice time, having only been cleared in late November.

Guyton's road back from a torn ACL is well-documented by now, but at this point the most exceptional part of her recovery is how consistently she has earned more trust since being cleared for full go. Tuesday, the point guard from Peoria, Illinois, logged a new high 31 minutes in the win, including the last 16:07 of the game.

"I don't think there's too many kids that, right away when they get cleared, I'm asking her to do what [Guyton]'s been doing," said Jensen. "Tonight, she was really, really big. She can facilitate offenses, she can slide between the 2 and the 1, and she can help handle the ball."

With Guyton garnering the lion's share of minutes, it stands to reason that her next step is into the starting lineup, formalizing her status as one of the team's five best players.

Jensen has been consistent in emphasizing that the minutes at the end of the game matter more, though, and Guyton adds undeniable value to this season's team off the bench.

"Just being ready, when my name is called off the bench or from the announcers," said Guyton. "It's actually easier to watch from the bench, see what's going on first, take a couple notes in my head and going out there, doing what I can for the team."

"[Guyton] can come in at the 1 or the 2 — if I need a little help with the 2, or if I want to give Lucy more help at the 1, or if I simply want to take Lucy off the ball," said Jensen. "So I don't envision [starting Guyton]. I mean Aaliyah, if she'd have to start at the 5 or go in at the 5, she's going to do whatever this team needs to win."

With this starting lineup digging a 14-5 and 20-10 hole in the first quarter Tuesday, though, the staff's appetite for similar starts might get thin enough to look for Guyton to steady the opening minutes as well once the quality of competition heats back up.

Regardless of whether Guyton has the luxury of coming off the bench, though, she's as likely to fit in with the upperclassman-heavy front five as well as anyone on the team.

"She just has a high basketball IQ," said Jensen. "She sees the game. And she's not one to shy away from any moment, and that's a big component. Also tonight, the huddles down the stretch, she'd be the one echoing or leading it. 'Let's go on a run.' 'Let's do X.' 'Let's do Y,' repeating what I've said. A lot of times, freshmen are not as apt to do that. But she's got a really nice way about her, and people don't just allow her to say it, they want her to say it."

Iowa's next game is its biggest yet, with No. 3 USC coming to town on Sunday, with Caitlin Clark's jersey retirement coming after the game.