Could UCF's Emely Rodriguez fill final transfer-portal need for Iowa women's basketball?

In a recent one-on-one interview with the Des Moines Register, Iowa women’s basketball coach Jan Jensen outlined her ideal next addition via the NCAA transfer portal.

“If we added some type of forward, just with our depth, that’d be great,” Jensen said, adding that she would prefer a “scoring forward” ideally.

With Chazadi "Chit-Chat" Wright already in the fold – “the piece we needed,” Jensen said of the point-guard transfer from Georgia Tech with three years eligibility remaining − the Hawkeyes understand that front-court depth could still be an issue, especially after losing starting forward Sydney Affolter to graduation.

A potential solution is on the horizon.

Central Florida freshman Emely Rodriguez will make an official visit to Iowa on May 12, a source with direct knowledge of her recruitment confirmed to the Register.

Rodriguez is a 6-foot guard/forward who averaged 11.9 points and 5.3 rebounds per game last season at UCF. She made the All-Big 12 Conference freshman team and has three years of eligibility remaining.

Originally from the Dominican Republic, Rodriguez started 19 times in 25 games (she missed five with an injury) as UCF struggled to a 12-18 season. She averaged 26.4 minutes and scored in double figures 16 times for UCF. Rodriguez shot 40.9% from the field and 33.3% from 3-point range (15-for-45).

She has some size and would potentially serve as a backup to Kylie Feuerbach or Hannah Stuelke, who Jensen wants to move to the “4” position entering her senior year. That would allow Jensen to rotate rising sophomore Ava Heiden and incoming 6-5 freshman Layla Hays at the “5” spot. Jensen wants Iowa to play bigger in 2025-26. The Hawkeyes finished 23-11 last season, with their only double-digit loss being by a 96-62 score to Oklahoma in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Iowa got outrebounded, 64-33, in that game.

If Iowa could land Rodriguez, that would also provide more flexibility with the development of 6-foot forward Teagan Mallegni, who had immense promise as a freshman but struggled from 3-point range. Iowa is trying to figure out whether Mallegni is a better fit at the “3” or “4” position, and adding Rodriguez and seeing what she brings to the table could help that shake out.

Iowa has 13 scholarship players in the fold for the 2025-26 – four seniors (Stuelke, Feuerbach, Taylor McCabe, Jada Gyamfi), six sophomores (Heiden, Mallegni, Wright, Taylor Stremlow, Callie Levin and Kennise Johnson) and three freshmen (Hays, Addie Deal and Journey Houston) – with a maximum of 15 permitted.