After Indiana postponement, Iowa women’s basketball to host Illinois on Sunday

IOWA CITY — There will be Sunday basketball at Carver-Hawkeye Arena after all. 

After having its originally scheduled game against No. 6 Indiana postponed due to COVID issues within the Hoosiers program, Iowa will now host Illinois Sunday at 5 p.m. The game will be televised on the Big Ten Network. 

This came together once Illinois found itself in the same boat as the Hawkeyes. The Illini were scheduled to host Nebraska on Sunday, but the Huskers are also dealing with COVID issues. Nebraska postponed Thursday’s game against Rutgers before having to do the same with the Illinois contest. 

This will be the first meeting of the season between Iowa and Illinois, although it wasn’t supposed to be. The Hawkeyes and Illini were scheduled to play Jan. 2 in Carver-Hawkeye Arena before COVID issues postponed the contest to Feb. 12. Sunday’s game will take the place of that rescheduling. 

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The Hawkeyes (11-4, 5-1 Big Ten Conference) are coming off a 105-49 drubbing at Minnesota on Thursday night. Illinois (6-10, 1-4) fell to Purdue by 22 on the same day. The Illini have dropped five of their past six going back to mid-December. 

All game tickets and parking passes previously issued for the Iowa-Indiana game will be valid for the game Sunday against Illinois. Doors will open at 4 p.m.

Dargan Southard covers Iowa and UNI athletics, recruiting and preps for the Des Moines Register, HawkCentral.com and the Iowa City Press-Citizen. Email him at msouthard@gannett.com or follow him on Twitter at @Dargan_Southard.