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It’s said that a win is a win no matter what.
For the Iowa Hawkeyes, they may have defeated the visiting Rutgers Scarlet Knights, 55-43 to extend their winning streak to six games, but they had to work for it against a team most expected they would steamroll.
The Hawkeyes didn’t get off to an auspicious start, as they looked lethargic and trailed Rutgers 10-2 in the first five minutes. They managed to eke out a minimal run in the remaining minutes thanks to the scoring exploits of Lucy Olsen, as she scored eight of the team’s 10 first-quarter points as they trailed 14-10.
The tide began to turn for Iowa as Olsen continued to score at will with 11 points in the second quarter, helping the Hawkeyes trounce the Scarlet Knights in the period, 18-8. Iowa shot 6-for-17 from the field, a significant improvement from shooting a meager 3-for-13 in the first quarter.
While the Hawkeyes led 28-22 at the half, they needed to get others to contribute besides Olsen.
In the third quarter, other players started to step up. Most notable was Syd Affolter. She hit two crucial 3-pointers as Rutgers started to regain some of the momentum. She ended up equaling Olsen with six points in the period as the Hawkeyes shot their best field goal percentage all game at 58 percent.
In the fourth quarter, both teams objectively underperformed, which is putting it lightly. A combined 15 points were scored, with the Hawkeyes and Scarlet Knights together going 2-for-11 from the field.
Nevertheless, the Hawkeyes got the win. It’s win summed up by three key areas of success, along with three areas of needed growth, as four games remain in the regular season.
Three successes
Lucy Olsen’s scoring
When the team was struggling, Olsen carried them on her shoulders in the same fashion as Caitlin Clark or JuJu Watkins. She finished with a game-high 27 points, shooting 11-for-19 from the field, including 4-for-5 from the 3-point line. She also came away with two rebounds and two assists; in the process, she captured her 500th-career assist, dating back to her days at Villanova.
Defense
The Hawkeyes held the Scarlet Knights to 43 points, the lowest total they have held an opponent to since their opening matchup against Washington State. They forced Rutgers into at least three shot clock violations. Head coach Jan Jensen was pleased after the game, saying, “We held them they least amount of points in a game since 2012. I think that’s really good.”
Syd Affolter’s rebounding
Affolter was all over the boards as she came away with 12 in total, along with 10 points for a double-double. “I think our rebounding, I thought, was good….because 20 percent of their [Rutgers] scoring is rebounding,” Jensen said.
Three areas of improvement
Turnovers
The Hawkeyes finished with 16 turnovers. While less than Rutgers’ 18, 16 still is too many. Many of those turnovers came in the form of boggled entry passes to Hannah Stuelke or Addison O’Grady. Affolter addressed the issue after the game, saying:
Our post passing can definitely improve. I thought they had a good game plan. We have great posts on our team, and it’s a little bit of a struggle to get the ball in the post. I would say posts are very important, so just finding different ways to do that.
Jensen not only agreed with Affolter, but had her own observation on how to improve, noting:
Offensively, we didn’t really have a lot of great flow, but we are struggling to throw it inside. I like it inside-out, and we’re just missing the post at money times. That’s what a lot of people overlook when a great post scores. She scores because she’s done the work and all that, but she gets it when she needs it, where she needs it. That’s the difference in games like this…we are working against undersized posts that are pretty aggressive, but if you don’t get the ball right away when you need it, when that seam is there, it is upsetting so we need to improve on that. That’s the major area.
Taking care of the ball overall is something Olsen also acknowledged has to be strengthened, saying, “They’re a really good defensive team. We knew they were going to come in and really amp that up, but I think taking care of the ball.”
Shot clock awareness
A blessing and a curse for the Hawkeyes is they are an unselfish team. The blessing is their system allows for all players to be involved. The curse is they have a tendency to lose sight of the shot clock. They have to strike the proper balance between running the offense, swinging the ball around, looking inside when the opportunity presents itself and keeping an eye out for the shot clock.
Moving without the ball
When it came to spacing on the perimeter and moving without the ball, the Hawkeyes too often looked like deers caught in headlights. Thus, their offense stagnated. With games against the likes of Ohio State and UCLA coming up, Iowa will have inject more movement into the offensive halfcourt, remaining fluid and cutting to the hole more. Jensen emphasized the need for more cutting after the game, asserting:
Cutting was very status quo tonight. This offense, you got to cut. I mean, it’s like, kids always laugh when I use this, but for the older folks here, “You got to kiss a lot of frogs to find your friends.” You got to kiss those frogs cutting and, eventually, you’ll get there. Nonetheless, you gotta cut. You may not get rewarded for about seven times, might be 10. But guess what? They’re gonna get fatigued, and that’s what we show them [her players] tomorrow.
Iowa (18-7, 8-6) will hit the road to take on No. 9 Ohio State (21-3, 10-3) on Monday, Feb. 17 at 12 p.m. ET (FOX).
