The good news is the Iowa women will get a double-bye going into the Big Ten Tournament and both Gabbie Marshal and Kate Martin will be back for their Covid extra year.
McKenna Warnock is applying to get into dental school so she will finish up this season.
That is great news for Caitlin Clark with all Big Ten center Monica Czinano graduating.
I look for Hannah Stuelke to start the next three years at center or power forward.
The 6-2 freshman from Cedar Rapids has played in all 28 games, is shooting 62% from the floor, has 109 rebounds and averages 7.6 points per game.
The 5th starter?
If Lisa Bluder wants to go big with Sidney Affolter who has played in 27 games this year scoring a career high 14 points in the loss to Maryland.
Sydney is shooting 50% from the floor and 83% from the free throw line.
Kylie Feuerbach, who sat out this season because of a knee injury, played in all 32 games last
year, started two game, shot 42% from the floor and 82% from the free throw line.
Coach Bluder said Kylie was coming on strong last summer before being injured.
If Lisa wants to go small she could start Molly Davis.
Molly, who transferred from Central Michigan, has been a pleasant surprise playing in every game starting two. Molly only averages 4.5 points but comes up with big shots in close games and shoots 86% from the free throw line. The 5-7 guard has 56 assists (third best on the team) and 36 turnovers.
The bad news?
Maryland, ranked 7th, is tough to beat on their home floor.
The Terrapins shot 11% (2-18) from three in their 96-82 loss to Iowa February 2nd in Iowa City.
Iowa, ranked 6th, was 7-21 (33%) from deep, had 27 assists and 19 turnovers.
Last week Maryland came out hot shooting 53.8% from three and had a 43-19 advantage on bench points.
Iowa led 20-19 at the end of the first quarter.
Maryland was 7-11 (63.6%) from three in the second quarter, Iowa 0-10 and the Terrapins outscored the Hawks 27-8 and never looked back.
The Hawks had 24 turnovers, only 14 assists and shot 28.9% (11-38) from three.
Maryland held Monica Czinano to four points on 2-5 shooting as she was double teamed a lot.
Caitlin Clark scored 18, nine below her average and Gabbie Marshall had 15 including 5-10 from three
Iowa has never won at Maryland… yet.
Iowa 86 Indiana 85
Caitlin Clark came to Iowa as the 4th-rated recruit in the nation, which was Lisa Bluder’s top recruit in her 23 years as head coach. Caitlin might have made her first signature moment in the 4th game with Iowa State.
The Clones led for 36 minutes, former City High prep Ashley Jones scored 35 points but freshman Caitlin Clark had 34 including a 3-pointer with ten seconds left to give the Hawks an 82-80 win at Carver.
The only bad thing was the Covid virus kept Carver almost empty.
I went but it wasn’t the same.
Caitlin led the nation in scoring, was all Big Ten and first team All American in her first year.
As a sophomore, Caitlin led the nation in scoring (27.0) and assists (8.0).
No women’s basketball player has ever done that.
This year Caitlin is averaging 27.2 points, 7.7 rebounds and 7.9 assists but her last second shot that gave Iowa their one point win over Indiana might be her best moment…so far.
You had Game Day at Carver for the first time and only the second time for women’s basketball, a sold out crowd that blew the roof off Carver and a game winning off-balance 3-point shot that was on the sports highlights the next couple days.
Treasure watching Caitlin wearing No. 22. When she finishes her career at Iowa, no one will wear that number again.
It was a great top ten game with 6th ranked Iowa beating 2nd ranked Indiana.
Hawkeye Men
Wisconsin 64 Iowa 52
Here we go again.
For the second game in a row, the Hawkeyes could not make shots, especially from three.
Iowa shot 12.5% (3-24) from three against Northwestern, 10.7% (3-28) against Wisconsin.
The Hawkeyes are scoring an average of 86.5 points at home shooting 37.5% from three.
On the road, Iowa averages 66.2 points and shoots 27.5% from three.
The Hawks had only eight assists on 20 made baskets as they came into the game averaging 16.6 assists per game.
“It felt it was the same at Northwestern,” said Fran McCaffery. “I didn’t think the shots we took were bad. We typically let our guys go. I encourage them to shoot open threes. It was two games in a row where it just wasn’t dropping from three.”
Kris Murray had an off night going 2-10 from the floor, 1-5 from three scoring a season low five points.
Kris picked up two quick fouls and didn’t score in the first half.
That’s only the second time this year, Kris didn’t score in double figures.
Tony Perkins and Filip Rebraca each scored 13, Payton Sandfort pitched in 10 which was the only bench points for Iowa.
There were 14 lead changes, five times tied and the Hawks trailed by one, 27-26 at half.
One For The Ages, Iowa 112 Michigan State 106 OT
The Hawkeyes scored 23 points in the last 90 seconds of regulation to tie the game at 101.
My goodness, the Hawks scored 26 points in the first half of the Wisconsin game.
You can measure a person’s height and weight.
You can also see how fast they are and how high they can jump.
What you can’t do is measure a person’s heart and will to win.
You start with Payton Sandfort, who missed two open threes at East Lansing on January 26th in the Hawkeyes 63-61 loss. Payton scored eight points in those last 90 seconds including a 3-pointer with three seconds left to send the game into overtime. The 6-7 junior finished with 22 points, 13 in the second half.
Kris Murray broke out of a two game slump when he totaled only 19 points. Kris had six points at half, finished with 26 points, eight rebounds, four assists and three steals.
Those are all Big Ten numbers.
Tony Perkins had another solid game with 24 points, nine boards, six assists and three steals.
Six of Tony’s points were in overtime.
The two blue collar guys, Filip Rebraca and Conner McCaffery, combined for 28 points and 11 assists.
The 218 total points was the highest scoring game in series history.
The heart and will to win came through for the Hawks.
Hawkeye Women Close Out Season 2023
March 2, 2023