In late December last year, Iowa played IUPUI in a game only the IUPUI players circled. Everyone knew that IUPUI was a good team, but no one thought the Jaguars would beat Iowa at Carver. And through 3+ quarters, the conventional wisdom seemed to hold. The Hawkeyes held a big lead and looked like they would roll to victory. Then the Hawks lost focus, IUPUI went on a big run, and Iowa lost a stunner, 74-73.
The question coming into today’s game against Northern Iowa was whether lightning might strike for a second consecutive season in late December. UNI won’t be a Top 25 team at any point this season, but the Panthers still have a very solid team. Their players know Iowa’s players well. And they would love nothing more than upsetting the Hawkeyes on their home court.
Recap
The first quarter was back and forth. Iowa got the ball deep in the paint regularly to start the game, scoring several baskets in close. But defensively, the Hawks' effort was lacking, and they gave up plenty of easy layups or offensive rebounds. The Panthers grabbed six total offensive rebounds in the first quarter, which helped them lead 19-18 after one. Iowa could’ve easily won the quarter if it had shown up defensively.
Iowa’s poor effort bled over to the early second quarter, and UNI built its lead to 25-20. But after that low point, Iowa finally woke up. The Hawks generated a few turnovers defensively, hit three consecutive threes, and suddenly had a 31-25 lead. The rest of the quarter was more back and forth action, and Iowa led 46-39 at the half.
Iowa controlled most of the third quarter, and led by 13 with a few minutes to go. Then the offense got sloppy and allowed UNI to go on a run and cut that lead to seven points. Iowa rallied back late, scoring three consecutive baskets and getting a couple stops to close out the quarter with a 69-56 lead.
UNI started the fourth quarter on a huge run, and cut Iowa’s lead to 71-66. UNI then got a few stops on defense and had two different chances to cut the Iowa lead to two points with a three-pointer. Fortunately for Iowa, the Panthers missed both. Iowa then made a couple baskets and extended the lead back to 10 points. From there, UNI made enough shots to keep the game interesting, but never got within two possessions again. Iowa finally extended the lead late, and won 88-74.
Box Score
Caitlin Clark led Iowa with 26 points, 8 rebounds, and 7 assists. She shot just 6/17 from the floor, but went 13/14 from the line. Monika Czinano scored 22 points and grabbed 6 rebounds, but had one of her worst shooting games from the floor at 6/14. She also was money at the line, going 10/11. As a team, Iowa shot 28/31 at the free throw line, which made up for poor shooting elsewhere (44% from the field, 27% from 3-point range). A box score for the game is here.
Déjà vu
Full disclosure: I wrote the beginning of this article before the game started. This game just felt like a trap game of sorts with Iowa having a week off coming in and conference play starting soon. I was very worried that history might repeat itself.
Early in the fourth quarter, I started to wonder if I had jinxed the team. When UNI made its big run to start the 4th, this game was following the exact same script as the IUPUI debacle. Iowa looked lost offensively, and UNI had all the momentum. Fortunately, Iowa hit a couple big shots, got things together on both ends, and won fairly comfortably.
Defensive Effort
Iowa is its own worst enemy sometimes. The Hawks will never be a great defensive team, but when they give their best effort, they are decent enough to support their great offense. But when they don’t give full effort, their defense is tough to watch. They give their opponents easy basket after easy basket and let less talented opponents hang around.
The good news this year is that we have seen those good stretches of defense against quality opponents like UConn and Iowa State. Iowa never really did that last year, and that gives this year’s team a higher ceiling.
The bad news is that Iowa’s lack of defensive effort just seems to show up randomly. It happened early in this game and then again to start the fourth quarter. It happened against Kansas State and Drake on the road. And it even happened against North Carolina State in what was one of Iowa’s biggest games of the season at home. As long as Iowa keeps having these poor defensive spells, the Hawks will always need to be on upset alert.
Next Up
Iowa returns to action on Wednesday, December 21 at 2 PM CT at home against Dartmouth. The Big Green are just 2-10 on the season, so Iowa will be heavy favorites in that one. The game will be streamed on BTN Plus ($).
