The Iowa women’s basketball team just can’t catch a break when it comes to getting on the court and playing consistently. A Covid pause caused them to cancel three games, including their trip to Cancun and then finals week gave the team another 10 days between games. Now, Christmas Break just got a little longer as their road trip to Penn State set for December 30th has been canceled due to Covid issues with the Nittany Lions.

A ruling on the result of the game will be announced by the Big Ten in the coming days, but according to the Big Ten rules the Nittany Lions will be forced to forfeit the matchup. This would give the Hawkeyes a 2-0 start in Big Ten play.

While a free win sounds nice, large breaks between games affect the flow and timing of the offense. The Hawkeyes have clearly been affected by their previous breaks in play.

“You worry as a coach, about being a little rusty,” said Lisa Bluder after a two-week break leading up to the Duke loss. The same will be true, as the Hawkeyes will go another 11 days in between games.

Iowa will be back on January 2nd when they face the Illinois Fighting Illini at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. The game will be at 2:00pm on BTN+.