Taylor McCabe’s season-ending injury changes Iowa women’s basketball after Ohio State vs Iowa blowout — and puts Addie Deal in the spotlight

Iowa women’s basketball kept rolling with a statement win in the Ohio State vs Iowa showdown on Sunday, January 25, 2026, blasting a ranked Buckeyes team 91–70. But the result is already being reframed by what happened almost immediately: guard Taylor McCabe went down on the opening sequence, and the program has since confirmed the injury is season-ending (ACL), with surgery ahead.

The timing matters. Iowa is sitting at 18–2 overall and 9–0 in Big Ten play, and the stretch coming up on the Iowa women’s basketball schedule is the kind that can reshape conference races and NCAA tournament seeding. The win over Ohio State proved Iowa has answers. The McCabe news tests whether those answers can hold up for six more weeks.

Ohio State vs Iowa: a dominant win with a brutal first twist

From a basketball standpoint, Iowa’s performance was everything a contender wants in late January: efficient offense, physical rebounding, and a game that never felt like it was slipping away. Freshman Addie Deal delivered a season-high 20 points, while Hannah Stuelke posted 18 points and 15 rebounds. Ava Heiden added 18 more as Iowa’s frontcourt edge showed up in both scoring and control of the glass.

Ohio State, meanwhile, couldn’t manufacture its usual chaos. Iowa’s passing repeatedly cracked defensive coverages and turned possessions into clean looks, which is the quiet separator between “ranked team” and “title threat.”

And yet, the game’s most consequential moment wasn’t a run or a tactical adjustment. It was the loss of a key perimeter shooter before Iowa even got to settle into its opening set.

Taylor McCabe’s absence: the basketball problem and the identity problem

Taylor McCabe’s value isn’t only measured in points. She stretches the floor, punishes late rotations, and forces opponents to defend farther from the rim — the kind of gravity that makes post touches easier and lanes cleaner for drivers. With a season-ending ACL injury, Iowa now has to solve two problems at once:

• Replace minutes without shrinking the rotation into something fragile.

• Replace spacing without becoming easier to scout.

The short-term fix is usually role substitution: another guard takes her spot, another shooter gets more attempts, and the team tries to keep the same shape. The tougher part is what happens against teams built to expose new weak points. If Iowa’s perimeter threat becomes more volatile night-to-night, opponents can pack the paint more aggressively, dare certain lineups to hit shots, and turn games into grind-it-out possessions where one cold quarter flips everything.

Addie Deal: from promising freshman to a real lever in the season

In the immediate aftermath, Addie Deal looks like the most important swing piece on the roster. Iowa doesn’t need her to become McCabe overnight. Iowa needs her to be something just as valuable: a reliable guard who can score in multiple ways, move the ball without stalling possessions, and survive defensively when matchups get targeted.

Deal’s big night against Ohio State matters because it signals the coaching staff has an option that can actually change the game — not just tread water. If she can keep producing without forcing shots, she becomes the stabilizer for lineups that still revolve around Iowa’s frontcourt strength.

And that’s the key: Iowa can still be an elite team if it stays Iowa — physical inside, smart with the ball, and dangerous enough outside that defenses can’t cheat.

Iowa women’s basketball schedule: the next stretch (all times ET)

Here’s what’s immediately ahead, and why each game feels like a different kind of test in a post–Taylor McCabe world:

• Thu, Jan 29, 2026 — at USC, 9:00 PM ET
  A late road tip that can punish shallow rotations and mental lapses. Iowa’s ball security and bench readiness will matter.

• Sun, Feb 1, 2026 — at UCLA, 4:00 PM ET
  A marquee matchup on the road against a top opponent. This is where spacing, shot-making, and defensive discipline get stress-tested.

• Thu, Feb 5, 2026 — vs Minnesota, 7:00 PM ET
  A pivot game: can Iowa re-establish rhythm at home after the trip?

• Wed, Feb 11, 2026 — vs Washington, 7:30 PM ET
  Another spot where Iowa’s depth and energy management will be under the microscope.

What’s behind the headline: incentives, stakeholders, and second-order effects

This isn’t just an injury story — it’s a pressure story.

• Incentives: Iowa has every reason to protect its top-tier résumé. A perfect conference start doesn’t guarantee anything in March, but it does buy margin for error and helps avoid the most brutal bracket paths.

• Stakeholders: Teammates who now carry larger roles, coaches who must redesign rotation logic, and opponents who will immediately re-scout Iowa’s spacing and late-game sets without McCabe.

• Second-order effects: Expect more targeted defense on Iowa’s remaining perimeter threats, more physical closeouts, and more attempts to wear down Iowa’s guards over 40 minutes. Offensively, Iowa may lean even harder into post creation — and that can work, but it also invites double-teams that demand crisp kick-outs.

• The human layer: A season-ending ACL is also a long rehabilitation journey. It changes training timelines, offseason plans, and—depending on eligibility choices—could even affect future roster construction.

What we still don’t know — and what happens next

There are a few unknowns that will shape the next month:

1. How Iowa formalizes the rotation (starting lineup decisions, second-unit ball-handling, and end-of-game offense).

2. Whether perimeter production stays consistent as scouting reports shift.

3. How quickly the team’s defensive roles settle with new guard combinations.

Realistic next steps are straightforward: Iowa tests the new structure on the West Coast, learns what breaks under elite pressure, then adjusts at home. If Addie Deal continues to score efficiently and Iowa’s spacing holds, the Hawkeyes can keep their trajectory intact. If the perimeter becomes streaky and opponents start collapsing the floor, Iowa’s margin for error tightens fast — even when the frontcourt wins its battles.