Games against small school opponents aren’t glamorous. They aren’t likely to produce memorable moments or tell you much about how your team will do in a particular season.
But they are necessary. To give teams time to work out the kinks after a long off-season. To let teams make some mistakes without much risk of a loss. And to give new players their first in-game action with the team.
Iowa’s season opener against New Hampshire—a team that finished 5-15 last year and is projected to finish seventh in its conference this year—was the epitome of a small school opponent game.
Iowa lead New Hampshire 31-11 at the end of the first quarter, but the score was somewhat deceptive. Iowa wasn’t particularly crisp in the game’s first few minutes on offense, and the defense was allowing far too much dribble penetration. But then Iowa’s offense got going, and the points came in bunches.
In the second quarter, Iowa faced their first bit of adversity of the season. The Hawkeye offense started turning the ball over too much early in the quarter, and New Hampshire finally hit a few open shots. Coach Bluder actually called a timeout to give the team time to settle down.
The timeout worked. Caitlin Clark got back into rhythm offensively, Iowa’s defense improved, and the Hawkeyes took a 48-23 lead into halftime.
The second half was much the same. Iowa looked good for stretches, but struggled with turnovers at times. The Hawks lead 69-34 after 3, and finished with a 93-50 victory.
@CaitlinClark22 #Hawkeyes pic.twitter.com/R7UVj1tMSz
— Iowa Women's Basketball (@IowaWBB) November 10, 2021
Clark led Iowa with 26 points, 8 rebounds, and 6 assists. She only attempted 10 shots in the game, but went a perfect 11/11 from the free throw line. Monika Czinano added 14 points and 6 rebounds. McKenna Warnock and Tomi Taiwo were the last Hawkeyes in double figures with 12 and 10 respectively. Iowa ended the game with 19 turnovers as a team. A box score for the game is here.
Ahhh it's good to be back!
— Iowa Women's Basketball (@IowaWBB) November 10, 2021
https://t.co/Ujl76u3odl pic.twitter.com/AWbszja0jF
Rotation
One of the more intriguing things to watch in early season games are the rotations that Coach Bluder uses. Iowa’s starters weren’t in doubt this year, but with a couple injuries, there was some preseason intrigue in who would fill in for the starters. Here were the backups at each position in the first game of the season.
1: Kate Martin and Gabbie Marshall served as the backup point guards for Clark until the final few minutes. That decision makes a lot of sense -- Martin and Marshall have the most guard experience on the team, and Coach Bluder knows she can trust them with the ball in their hands.
2 and 3: Taiwo and Kylie Feuerbach played most of the backup minutes at the 2 and 3 tonight, and likely will for most of the season moving forward. Feuerbach in particular got an extended look, tying Clark for the most minutes played in the game.
Feuerbach was impressive in the minutes she played. She is more athletic than Martin and Marshall, and a much bigger threat driving to the basket and in transition. Iowa will need her athleticism throughout the season, particularly when facing the best teams in the Big Ten and throughout the country.
4: Sydney Affolter played most of the minutes as the backup 4 tonight, which is interesting because she is naturally a wing. Iowa has contemplated four-guard lineups in the past couple seasons, but they have never worked well enough to stick. Then again, Affolter is only a few inches shorter that Warnock, and looks like she might be one of the better rebounders on the team. Logan Cook also played a few minutes as the backup 4.
5: Cook and Addison O’Grady split minutes backing up up Czinano at the 5 tonight, though O’Grady played more minutes there throughout the game. O’Grady was impressive again, scoring 8 points and grabbing 4 rebounds in just 11 minutes.
- home season opener wins. Not too bad, eh? @IowaWBB pic.twitter.com/uXh2hOX62k
— Iowa On BTN (@IowaOnBTN) November 10, 2021
Next Up
Iowa returns to action this Thursday, November 11th at 6:30 PM CT against Samford. The game will be streamed on BTN Plus.
