Iowa Women’s Basketball Wednesday: Hawkeyes Look to Bounce Back Against Ohio State

The Iowa Hawkeyes lost their second conference game of the season on Saturday at Northwestern. The Hawkeyes were even with the Wildcats at halftime, but Northwestern went on a run at the end of the third quarter. Iowa came up short by a score of 67-77.

Musings from the Northwestern Game

A few tidbits from the game. Caitlin Clark was held far below her average; she accumulated 8 points and 8 assists on the day. Here’s Clark showing her deep three point range.

McKenna Warnock was held to just 3 points on the day, but she amassed 17 rebounds. That’s outstanding for a guard/forward. Heck, that’s outstanding for Dennis Rodman or Sylvia Fowles (WNBA career rebounding leader). Monika Czinano had an incredible game, scoring 28 points and grabbing 12 rebounds. Czinano had been averaging less than 5 rebounds a game prior to this; as Iowa’s main post presence, it will be important for her to continue to crash the boards and consistently get in the 8-10 range. Granted, Iowa hasn’t missed a ton of shots this year, so offensive boards have been hard to come by. The Hawkeyes got an 11 point boost from 5-9 guard Gabbie Marshall.

At least for this game, Northwestern looked to be a step quicker than the Hawkeyes. Iowa turned the ball over 18 times, often because the Wildcats had their hands in passing lanes and pressured the basketball. Northwestern was able to get to the rim for the finish and some “and ones” with late help coming over, and they also were able to drive and kick out to wide open three point shooters. Iowa’ 4 out, 1 in motion was effective, with some very nice passes. Here’s an excellent example of ball movement for the Hawkeyes.

Iowa did a nice job of feeding Czinano in the post.

It’s important to feed the ball inside in the game of basketball. It’s crucial to get the ball inside when outside shots aren’t falling. Almost without fail if you can only shoot the three ball and it doesn’t go in, you lose. Normally the Hawkeyes are a terrific three point shooting team. Northwestern’s defense and Iowa’s cold shooting (5/19 3FG 26.3%) were the difference.

Ohio State Wednesday

Iowa (8-2, 4-2) hosts #15 Ohio State (6-0, 2-0) on Wednesday in Carver-Hawkeye. It is a 3pm tipoff on the Big Ten Network. The Hawkeyes have an incredible 42 game home win streak going. All five Buckeyes starters average double figures in scoring. They are led by Jacy Sheldon at 18.3 ppg. Dorka Juhasz is averaging 10.5 rebounds a game. The Buckeyes, much like the Hawkeyes, can score points. Ohio State is averaging 90.8 points per game. Iowa is averaging 89.6. Look for a high-scoring affair, but whichever team defends, gets hands up on shooters, and boxes out will get the win. Coach Bluder acknowledged as much after the Northwestern game, saying, “We can’t just rely on our offense,” Bluder said. “We have to play on both ends.” Tune in or set record on your DVR’s. This should be a fun Big Ten matchup. Go Hawks!