For the last two years, Iowa and Iowa State have been neck and neck as programs. Two years ago, Iowa State earned a 7 seed in the NCAA Tournament and were a couple questionable calls away from advancing to the Sweet 16. Iowa earned a 5 seed in the same NCAA Tournament and did advance to the Sweet 16 before being eliminated by UConn. It was clear both teams had bright futures.
Last year, Iowa was the #8 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament. Iowa State was the #9 overall seed. Iowa was upset in the second round by Creighton. Iowa State lost in the Sweet 16 to that same Creighton team.
Both teams got a boost when seniors (Monika Czinano for Iowa and Ashley Joens for Iowa State) decided to take their COVID years and return for a super-senior season. Both teams also supplemented their roster with big additions via the transfer portal (Molly Davis for Iowa and Stephanie Soares for Iowa State) in the offseason.
Even the games between the two teams have been close. Two years ago, Iowa came from 17 down in the fourth quarter and defeated Iowa State 82-80 on a late Caitlin Clark three. Last year, Iowa State beat Iowa 77-70 in a game that was close until the very end. The question coming into tonight's game, then, was which team would take the rubber match? Which team would add a huge win to their NCAA Tournament resume?
Recap
The first seven-and-a-half minutes went as well as Iowa could have hoped defensively. Iowa did a good job of forcing Iowa State into long shots and the Cyclones mostly missed them. Offensively, Clark struggled shooting, but Czinano got off to a quick start. Iowa led 11-3 after those seven-and-a-half minutes, and had plenty of momentum.
But Iowa State finally started to make shots to close the quarter, and Iowa’s offense couldn’t buy a bucket. The Cyclones closed on an 8-0 run and the score was tied at 11 heading to the second quarter.
Both teams continued to struggle offensively in the first half of the second quarter, and Iowa held a narrow 20-15 lead. But Iowa State’s offense finally started to roll at the end of the quarter, and Iowa couldn’t match it. The Cyclones ended the quarter on a 13-3 run and led 28-23 heading to halftime.
In the third quarter, Iowa’s offense finally started to click. Clark made a couple threes after a rough shooting start. Iowa got Czinano a few good looks. And Kate Martin and Addison O’Grady made baskets, too. Iowa State continued to struggle on offense, missing shots or turning the ball over. With just over three minutes to play in the quarter, Iowa State called timeout with Iowa leading 40-34. Iowa somehow played even better coming out of the timeout and went on a 10-2 run to build a 50-36 lead heading to the fourth quarter. Overall, the Hawks closed the quarter on a 19-2 run.
Iowa continued to play well in the early fourth quarter and pushed the lead as high to 16. But in the middle of the quarter, Iowa State finally hit a couple threes and narrowed Iowa’s lead to 10 at 60-50 with 4:30 to play. Iowa called timeout to quell Iowa State’s momentum. The timeout worked beautifully -- Iowa scored baskets on its next four possessions, and got stops on ISU's next three possessions. By the time Iowa State called timeout Iowa led 68-50 and the game was over. Iowa eventually closed out a 70-57 victory.
Box Score
Clark led Iowa with 19 points, 8 rebounds, 8 assists, and 5 steals. She only shot 7/20 from the floor, but was 4/9 from three. She also had a huge impact on the defensive end, forcing turnovers or grabbing rebounds to close out stops.
Monika Czinano was just 6/14 from the floor, but scored 18 points thanks in part to her 6/6 performance at the free throw line. She also grabbed 10 crucial rebounds.
Kate Martin scored 13 points, most of which came in the second half as Iowa was building its lead. A box score for the game is here.
A Huge Victory
It’s tough to overstate how big this victory was for Iowa. To this point, Iowa’s season has largely been a disappointment. The Hawks started the year ranked #4, but were upset by Kansas State, lost a neutral court thriller against UConn, and lost a rough game at home to a top 10 team in NC State.
A loss to Iowa State would’ve meant that Iowa’s best non-conference win was at Drake or on a neutral court against Oregon State. Both of those teams will likely compete for an NCAA Tournament berth, but neither is a Top 25 team. It also would have meant that Iowa went 0-3 against three other Top 15 teams.
A Gritty Win
Iowa’s win was all the sweeter because of the adversity the team faced at halftime. For the last 13-14 minutes of the first half, Iowa played as poorly as it had all year offensively. Clark couldn’t hit anything, Czinano was in foul trouble and frustrated by Iowa State’s post defense, and no role player was stepping up.
Given the way that the season has gone and how poorly Iowa played in the first half, it would’ve been easy to fold, or hope that the team could find its mojo again in conference play. Instead, Iowa kept battling defensively and on the glass. The players kept shooting after a terrible shooting start. When their shots finally started to go in, they fed on the crowd’s intensity. They kept attacking on both ends of the court. And when Iowa State finally did make a run, they took a timeout, regrouped, and closed out the big victory in style.
Questionable Calls
As great as Iowa’s victory was, the margin arguably should’ve been six points larger.
In the second quarter, Iowa took a 20-15 lead into the media timeout. Coming out of the timeout, the score was 20-18. Just before the timeout, Iowa was whistled for a foul off the ball. Over the timeout break the referees determined that Iowa State was actually shooting when the foul occurred and counted Iowa State’s basket. The Cyclones also got the ball on the foul and hit a three on that possession.
It wasn’t clear from the replay whether Iowa State’s shooter had actually started shooting when the referee blew the whistle. Given that the foul actually occurred sometime before the whistle was blown, the basket really shouldn’t have counted.
Then early in the fourth quarter, Kate Martin seemingly banked in a three to beat the shot clock and extend Iowa’s lead to 16 points. A few moments later there was a stoppage in play and a TV timeout. The referees reviewed the play during the break and ruled that Martin’s shot didn’t leave her hand in time. Martin’s three was wiped away. The replay was extremely close -arguably close enough that the play shouldn’t have been overturned.
Ultimately Iowa won by enough that neither call mattered. But both shifted momentum against Iowa at times when Iowa was seemingly taking control of the game.
Next Up
Iowa returns to action this Saturday, December 10th at 8 PM CT with a home game against Minnesota. The Gophers are just 5-4 on the season, but did defeat Penn State in their first Big Ten game. They also have several intriguing freshman starters, so they’re likely to improve as the season progresses. The game will be televised on the Big Ten Network.
