SIOUX CITY — The Iowa women's basketball program scheduled a matchup with Vanderbilt for November 15, 2026, at Fleet Farm Arena in the Tyson Events Center in Sioux City. The game will feature two programs that were both No. 2 seeds in the most recent NCAA Tournament.
Iowa is coming off a 27-7 season in 2025–26 and lost to Virginia in the second round of the 2026 NCAA Tournament. The Hawkeyes will return first-team All-Big Ten center Ava Heiden for the 2026–27 season, with Jan Jensen entering her third year as head coach.
Vanderbilt, ranked No. 8 in The Athletic’s early preseason top 25 published in late April 2026, will face an Iowa team ranked No. 14 in the same poll. Both programs have added key transfers from the University of Georgia: Iowa signed first-team All-Southeastern Conference guard Dani Carnegie in April 2026, while Vanderbilt added Mia Woolfolk, Carnegie’s former Georgia teammate. Woolfolk averaged 13.9 points and 5.4 rebounds per game during her freshman season at Georgia.
The Tyson Events Center, where the game will be held, opened in late 2003 in downtown Sioux City and seats approximately 10,000 fans. The venue is home to the arena football team Sioux City Bandits and serves as a multipurpose event space for concerts, conventions, and sporting events.
Iowa has not announced further details of its 2026–27 women's basketball schedule beyond the matchups with Vanderbilt and UConn. The Hawkeyes’ non-conference slate is expected to include 12 games in addition to their 18 Big Ten Conference contests.
The University of Iowa announced the Vanderbilt game as part of its effort to build a competitive non-conference schedule ahead of the 2026–27 season. Both Iowa and Vanderbilt reached the second round of the 2026 NCAA Tournament, with Vanderbilt falling to Texas and Iowa losing to Virginia.