After a comfortable 93-50 victory over New Hampshire in their season opener, #9 Iowa was looking for a slight step up in competition against Samford. The Bulldogs were 14-11 last year, including 11-2 in conference play, and returned most of their contributors.
Unfortunately for Iowa, the announcer mentioned just before tip that Samford was without a number of their players for this game, including one starter. The team that did show up didn’t look much different than New Hampshire.
Iowa jumped out to a 25-14 first quarter lead. The Hawks were getting great shots every time they didn’t turn the ball over, and were making those shots at a 69% rate. Iowa’s defense was also mostly good. The Hawks forced Samford into six turnovers and generally did well at limiting good shots early in the shot clock. But Samford made a couple baskets late in the shot clock, and added four second chance points to keep the game somewhat close.
Iowa’s second quarter defense was even better. The Hawks forced seven Samford turnovers, and still consistently forced the Bulldogs into tough shots. Iowa’s offense continued turning it over more than the coaches would like, but otherwise took and made plenty of good shots. Iowa led 47-22 at the break and the game was effectively over.
Iowa continued to play decent defense and shoot well from the floor in the second half, and earned a 91-54 victory.
Monika Czinano led Iowa with 20 points on 8-11 shooting. Caitlin Clark was the only other Hawkeye in double-figures with 19 points. 10 of 11 Hawkeyes scored in the game, and each player who scored had at least 5 points. A box score for the game is here.
Defense
It’s tough to fully assess where Iowa’s defense is at right now given the level of its competition in the first couple games, but there are some encouraging signs. The first is that Iowa never held any team under 60 points last season. In its first two games this year, they've held opponents to 50 and 54 points respectively.
Iowa’s on-ball defense has also been mostly good in the first two games. Last year, Iowa’s perimeter defenders allowed plenty of penetration, which made it very difficult to stop opposing offenses. The Hawkeye defenders have been much better at stopping penetration so far this season.
Finally, Iowa’s guards in particular have done better at looking to jump passing lanes or double-team opponents to apply pressure at times so far. Playing better on-ball defense and forcing more turnovers would go a long way in getting Iowa’s overall defense back in the right direction compared to last year.
On the negative side, Iowa’s help defense still looks like a work in progress. At times, Iowa’s defenders focus so much on helping their teammates that they completely lose their own defensive responsibility. The result, too often, is that player having a wide-open shot or open driving lane. Knowing when to help and how far to move off your defensive responsibility is difficult, but most of Iowa’s defenders are pretty far away from doing it well right now. Hopefully they will improve as the season goes on.
Next Up
Iowa returns to action this Sunday, November 14th at 2:00 PM CT against Northern Iowa. The Panthers are 1-0 on the season, with a 63-54 victory at St. Louis on Tuesday. Games at UNI are never easy, and UNI should be a step up in competition compared to Iowa’s first two opponents. The game will be streamed on ESPN Plus.
