Hawkeyes Get Revenge
Iowa's return to the Final Four and Indiana's near-historic comeback
It was a tough opening weekend for the Big Ten, but the last two teams standing in the NCAA Tournament made their marks, and one has survived into the Final Four once again.
It’s the same one as last year — Iowa — and the Hawkeyes really did it in style with two of their very best performances of the season over the past three days.
Last Week’s Hoopla:
Iowa had as much pressure as any team in the country to get back to the Final Four.
The Hawkeyes have had eyes on their games all season thanks to Caitlin Clark, who has received the more media coverage than any other college basketball player in the country this year. They entered this NCAA Tournament as a No. 1 seed, but got placed in what was largely considered the hardest region of the tourney, featuring a Kansas State team that beat them this year, an LSU team that beat them the year prior on the way to a title, and a UCLA team that was in the running for a 1-seed and that rebounded better than any team in the nation.
Yes, Iowa only ended up having to face one of those teams thanks to the Bruins falling to the Tigers and a Colorado upset over Kansas State, but even the Buffaloes were an elite group that the Hawkeyes would have to face for a second time in as many NCAA Tournaments.
Well, to start their weekend, the Hawkeyes thoroughly dismantled Colorado to get to the Elite Eight. Clark struggled from three (3 for 11), but was transcendent everywhere else, finishing with 29 points, 15 assists and just 2 turnovers in an 89-68 win. She was 10 for 11 on her two-point attempts, consistently dicing up a good Colorado defense for layups and *outrageous* dimes to her teammates.
Iowa was up 13 at half and 21 after three quarters, completely controlling the game on both sides. The whole starting five finished in double figures while holding Colorado to 37.5-percent shooting.
I thought there could be some issues for Iowa looking ahead too much since LSU was the confirmed Elite Eight matchup by tipoff. I was wrong. This was the type of performance you’d expect for a team with title aspirations, and they looked ready to avenge their finals loss from the year prior.
In last year’s title game — a 102-85 LSU win, for those who don’t remember —the keys to the game were three-point shooting, foul trouble and rebounds. Iowa was likely never going to beat the Tigers on the glass, but the other two were issues were more troubling. LSU managed to shoot 64.7% on its threes, an unthinkable efficiency compared to the rate the Tigers shot the rest of the tournament. LSU also fouled out Monika Czinano and McKenna Warnock, Iowa’s No. 2 and 3 leading scorers, while getting Clark into early foul trouble that hurt the Hawkeyes’ offensive rhythm.
Another key in that one: Clark did have 30 points, but 19 of her 22 shot attempts were threes. Making her that one-dimensional also stifled Iowa’s game plan, and all of these combined to a big statement victory for the Tigers.
There were new faces on LSU and faces missing on Iowa from last year’s teams, but the overall vision for how the Tigers can beat the Hawkeyes felt very similar.
Just like last year, Iowa jumped out to an early lead on Sunday, going up 17-9 about four minutes into the contest. And just like last year, Kim Mulkey called an early timeout. Just like last year, LSU immediately rallied: In the title game, the Tigers outscored Iowa 24-15 the rest of the first quarter after the timeout. Last night, LSU outscored the Hawkeyes 22-9. Both times, LSU lead by 5 after the first quarter. Was this about to be a mirror image of 2023?
The second quarter of last year’s title game is where the Tigers made their real mark. LSU turned a 32-31 Iowa lead into a 59-42 LSU beatdown in just 7:07 of game action, an unthinkable 28-10 run led by red-hot shooting that put the Hawkeyes into a major deficit they couldn’t overcome.
When Hailey Van Lith hit a three to put the Tigers up 34-26 early in the second quarter, I could feel the flashbacks coming. But Iowa stayed composed, perhaps like a team that had been here before or something. Sydney Affolter immediate hit a huge three on the next possession, and the Hawkeyes got a foothold thanks to their defense, stopping the Tigers from scoring for over three minutes. Iowa got the game within two before Angel Reese hit a layup to end the spell.
It was a tie game at half, a brilliant 20 minutes of basketball that showcased the best that the sport has to offer. But at the same time, it felt like maybe, just maybe, that Iowa had found the momentum that could be carried into the rest of the game.
Fourteen seconds into the third quarter, Clark hit a three. It was one of “those” threes, one from too deep, with too much time on the shot clock that makes you say “no way” while it’s in the air and “oh my god” when it sinks through the net.
Iowa took the lead here. A three-point lead, 14 seconds into the second half of a game that had minimal real separation between the teams to this point.
Iowa never lost the lead again.
Flau’jae Johnson and Kate Martin immediately exchanged free throws, then Johnson and Martin exchanged baskets to keep the margin at 3.
Then, Clark. It’s an even sillier attempt. Even more of a “what?????” reaction when she releases. Even more of a look of disbelief when it goes in. Six-point game.
Another LSU miss. Nine seconds later, nine-point game. You know who and you know how.
Finally, a quick break from the nonsense! Some misses happen on both sides, LSU starts to hit some shots, and it is 58-52 Hawkeyes with a little over 15 minutes to go. That’s plenty of time for a rally, unless you’re dealing with a player on demon time.
Which LSU is. Clark’s fourth three of the quarter pushes it back to nine. Now, Iowa’s defense is firing on all cylinders, blanking the Tigers for nearly four minutes as the lead balloons to 13. Iowa’s advantage is 11 entering the fourth, but LSU is not out of it yet, not by a long shot.
The Tigers get the game within two possessions early, but that six-point deficit lasts all of 13 seconds before Addison O’Grady gets fouled and hits a free throw. Still, the margin is seven with plenty of time to go.
Until the final 30 seconds of a matchup that was just about wrapped up, the last time the game was within seven points was with 8:17 to go. The last time it was within eight points was with 5:33 to go. Both of those scores were answered by Clark threes within 30 seconds.
It was never a blowout, but Iowa controlled this second half almost the entire way, and ended with a 94-87 win to avenge last year’s loss and get back to the Final Four.
For the second Iowa game in a row, I felt like I watched a team that could win a national championship.
The Hawkeyes played their brand of basketball and forced LSU to match it. Yes, the Tigers out rebounded Iowa 54-36 and had 21 offensive rebounds, but LSU also shot 38.6% from the field and attempted 24 threes, well below (46.2%) and above (13.3 per game) the team’s season averages, respectively.
Iowa is the first team to score over 80 points against LSU since Colorado did it in the season opener. Even the Gamecocks were held to 79 and 76 points in their two wins over the Tigers. It was a rapid-fire contest that favored the Hawkeyes’ style, and it was an excellent game plan by Lisa Bluder to make it happen.
Caitlin Clark doesn’t need to prove anything, but she still finds a way to do it. For the second-straight year, she finishes an Elite Eight matchup with 41 points and 12 assists. She still did way more work from three than two, with 20 attempts versus nine, but she threatened inside enough to keep the offense humming while hitting nine of those three attempts.
Watching so much Clark can almost make you numb to the lunacy you’re watching. Because of her gravity, almost every three attempt is either well covered or from way out there, and yet it always feels like it’s gonna go. And even when those shots aren’t falling, she’s so good at getting to the rim, or at finding her open teammates that you can almost never fully take her out of a game.
Let’s talk about those teammates.
Kate Martin has been the always-reliable complementary option in Iowa’s offense, but she was — and has been — much more than that. Against a team with LSU’s size, athleticism and interior prowess, Martin made all six of her two-point attempts, usually by sneaking to the rim in transition and Clark landing a perfect pass for a bucket. Martin had 21 points on Sunday, a magnificent performance as she continues to be huge for this team when they need her.
Sydney Affolter came off the bench basically all season, but has stepped up immensely without Molly Davis available. She had 16 points in 37 massive minutes in this one, and the rebounding ability she, Clark and Martin give Iowa at guard is a real game-changer. Gabbie Marshall was held off the score sheet most of the game, but was a constant pest defensively and grabbed two steals because of it. Her minutes are so important because of that two-way energy.
Hannah Stuelke got into some foul trouble and had just eight points, but I thought both her and O’Grady gave Iowa great minutes as they had to deal with Reese and Annesah Morrow. Again, the Hawkeyes were never going to win this rebound battle, but both Reese and Morrow combined to shoot 14 of 39 thanks to their defensive pressure.
This is a team centered around what Clark can do, but constructed so brilliantly by Bluder to also be made for what her teammates can do. These are players that can absolutely electrify in transition, that can hit open looks when given the opportunity and that know where to be to both give Clark space and be available for a dump off. And it’s all orchestrated by the nation’s best scorer and passer. Watching Iowa play basketball makes it very easy to understand how the Hawkeyes are leading the country in scoring while shooting nearly 60% as a team from two.
The Hawkeyes get UConn in the Final Four, a rematch of a 2021 Sweet 16 game where the Huskies won by 20. These teams are a little different now, but the highlight of this matchup remains Clark vs. Paige Bueckers. Bueckers is an efficiency machine who has a knack for being at her best whenever her team needs it the most. She’s also a tremendous mid-range scorer, passer and defender, and was National Player of the Year as a freshman.
UConn is a great offensive team but even better defensively, with both Bueckers and Nika Muhl being among the best defensive guards in the country. Aaliyah Edwards will also be a handful inside, but the Huskies are less smothering in the paint than the Tigers were.
Of course, the Huskies have been to this stage 22 other times before thanks to coach Geno Auriemma, so he will probably have a game plan to frustrate the Hawkeye attack. But on paper, Iowa should have the advantage here. UConn lacks depth in a big way, and if the Hawkeyes can get Bueckers, Edwards or Muhl into foul trouble, it’s a huge issue for UConn to overcome.
This should be another fantastic game to watch, and if the Hawkeyes can overcome the Huskies, they are very likely to get South Carolina in the championship. We saw what happened in last year’s Final Four, and so did Dawn Staley. That matchup would be the stuff dreams are made of, but UConn is not a team to look past clearly.
UConn beat USC in a banger of a game right after Iowa’s win, finishing off one of the best nights of basketball I had seen in a long time. It was such a joy to behold, both in the games themselves and for the amount of eyes that these games had with a wider audience. I saw so much on social media about these games that both delivered on their promises for fireworks.
It was just another sign that women’s basketball is here to stay in the mainstream.
Apologies to the WBIT and WNIT teams, I will talk about those tournaments in a future Hoopla I swear. I just had too much to say about Iowa and Indiana to fit it properly here.
Illinois is in the WBIT final against Villanova, and Minnesota is in the WNIT semis against Troy. Both of those games are Wednesday at 7 p.m. and you should watch.
But I have to talk some Hoosiers, they deserve it.
Indiana’s Heroics Fall Short
Indiana got South Carolina in the Sweet 16, which has been the kiss of death for any team not named Iowa over the past two seasons.
For the first half, it appeared the Hoosiers would take that kiss of death and lay down gently, falling behind 49-32 thanks to some red-hot South Carolina shooting. A Raven Johnson three with 7:28 to go in the third made it 56-34, and I started to rationalize it by thinking of how many teams the Gamecocks do this to.
A reminder on this year’s Hoosiers: Indiana was 26-5 coming in, and had some great wins along the way. But four of those five losses were by double digits, three of them were absolute blowouts and one was a monumental collapse against Michigan in the Big Ten Tournament. Indiana has not been known for the bounce-back ability at some critical moments of the season.
But with the season truly on its death bed, Indiana found the bounce-back, and it started with Yarden Garzon. The sophomore guard connected on a four-point play 19 seconds after Johnson put Carolina up 22. The teams kept trading buckets, but a pair of Sydney Parrish threes to make it 61-46 halfway through the third really gave these Hoosiers some life.
Parrish followed those makes with a layup to cut it to 13, then got a steal, then Garzon hit a layup. It was down to 11. A Chloe Moore-McNeil three, then layup with 44 second in the third shrunk the deficit down to 10, which is where it stood entering the fourth.
Indiana had the undefeated Gamecocks on the ropes, and the Hoosiers kept swinging. Mackenzie Holmes, who struggled in this game, connected on a layup to get it within single digits for the first time since the first half. Then, Parrish hit a three. It was 65-60 with 7:22 to go. Indiana was on a 10-0 run, and South Carolina hadn’t scored in more than five minutes.
When the Gamecocks did score, Garzon immediately countered it with a jumper. South Carolina pushed the lead back to eight, then Parrish nailed another three to bring it back to five. Lead back to seven, Sara Scalia got involved with a three to push it down to four.
Then, with 1:08 left in the game, Holmes hits a layup to make it 74-72. A one-possession game, against undefeated South Carolina, in a game SC led by 22 in the second half. If Indiana would have finished the comeback, it would have been the largest comeback in NCAA Tournament history.
Unfortunately, the Gamecocks are where they are for a reason. Johnson hit a massive three on the following possession, and while Holmes answered with a layup, South Carolina did just enough to stay in command, never giving Indiana the ball with a chance to tie or win.
South Carolina escaped with a 79-75 win, the team’s second-smallest margin of victory on the season. Morale victories don’t count for much, but it’s hard to be upset with anything Indiana did to have a chance in this game.
It was the final game for Holmes, who has been Indiana’s rock on the inside for five years now, and who has been the heart of the team in ways that expand beyond the court. It’s clear how much her passion and energy have drove this program to new heights, and she will be missed dearly within the conference.
Build that statue.
A Final Four awaits us. The conclusion of the WNIT and WBIT tournaments await us. Big Ten teams are involved in all three.
See you on Monday.
Photo Credits: Iowa Women’s Basketball (@IowaWBB), Twitter/X — Photo 1 | Photo 2 | Photo 3 ; Indiana Women’s Basketball (@IndianaWBB), Twitter/X
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