IOWA CITY, Iowa \u2014 Iowa women\u2019s basketball assistant coach LaSondra Barrett said sophomore forward Journey Houston has been the biggest surprise of the offseason.<\/p>\n
Three-pointer after three-pointer, Houston stood out at Iowa\u2019s open workout. Barrett said Houston\u2019s response to being left off the All-Big Ten freshman team last season has fueled her development.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the mindset she\u2019s in \u2014 not making the freshman team, and you could argue that she probably should have been on there \u2014 but I think she didn\u2019t let that bring her down,\u201d Barrett said. \u201cI think she\u2019s probably gotten in even more workouts with Coach Randy than anybody. To see her put up the shots she\u2019s putting up in the gym, you actually see the work.\u201d<\/p>\n
Barrett said Houston\u2019s growth at the four spot could make Iowa\u2019s offense more dynamic.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe shot the crap out of it today, which is always good to see, because I think as she grows confident in those things at that four spot it\u2019s going to be more dynamic,\u201d Barrett said.<\/p>\n
The Davenport native averaged 5.4 points and 5.1 rebounds per game as a freshman, serving primarily as a backup to Hannah Stuelke in a two-post offense. Houston said she accepted that role and focused on contributing however she could.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce I realized I wasn\u2019t going to be on the perimeter, my mindset was just whatever my coach wanted me to do \u2014 just do it the best I can to help my team out,\u201d Houston said.<\/p>\n
Houston said her three-point shot has developed significantly heading into her sophomore season.<\/p>\n
\u201cI kind of always knew I could do it, so actually seeing it happen and getting comfortable in the flow of a new offense is really helpful for my mindset,\u201d Houston said.<\/p>\n
Head coach Jan Jensen plans to run a four-out, one-in offense this season, with four players operating along the perimeter. Houston said the system requires versatility from everyone on the floor.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith this new offense it\u2019s kind of needed, because everybody has to have respect from the defense, so you have to be able to do everything,\u201d Houston said.<\/p>\n
Barrett said Houston\u2019s skill set may translate well to the guard spot left open by Hannah Stuelke, who plans to play professionally overseas. <\/p>\n
\u201cHannah brought one skill set for us and it was great, but I think Journey can adapt to that guard spot quicker,\u201d Barrett said.<\/p>\n
Barrett added that Houston\u2019s work ethic positions her to be a threat this season.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe all know she\u2019s a gamer, and if she can be confident, she will be pretty dangerous,\u201d Barrett said.<\/p>\n
Copyright 2026 KCRG. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"IOWA CITY, Iowa \u2014 Iowa women\u2019s basketball assistant coach LaSondra Barrett said sophomore forward Journey Houston has been…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":365018,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[1770,54601,129356,85039,56,58,57,3685,23923,129354,129352,129355,21862,129353,3731,15715,25683],"class_list":["post-365017","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston","tag-basketball","tag-guard","tag-hannah-stuelke","tag-hawkeyes","tag-houston","tag-houston-headlines","tag-houston-news","tag-iowa","tag-iowa-city","tag-jan-jensen","tag-journey-houston","tag-lasondra-barrett","tag-offense","tag-offseason","tag-summer","tag-womens-basketball","tag-workout"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/365017","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=365017"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/365017\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/365018"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=365017"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=365017"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=365017"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}