EMERGENCY HOOPLA: IOWA
My attempt at putting together thoughts for a game that left me at a loss for words
I am here to you on April Fools Day, not with some cruel prank or elaborate bit, but because something happened in Dallas last night. And to be fair, if you told me what happened was going to happen, whether it was last year, last month, hell, last week, I would have thought it was some sort of joke.
Iowa 77, South Carolina 73.
The Iowa Hawkeyes are going to the national championship game after taking down the then-undefeated reigning national champions. The shock still has not worn off.
I have watched South Carolina lay waste to its schedule all year. Games would be close for moments, but the smothering defense, unstoppable interior weapons and outstanding coaching always found a way to come out on top, often by gigantic margins.
Not last night.
Iowa started the game hot, staved off multiple comeback efforts by the Gamecocks, continuously held a lead that fluctuated from small to very small, and are now one win away from a national title for the first time in program history.
So, how the hell did Iowa do it?
On Monday, I said Iowa will need to force South Carolina’s bigs out of the paint, make the free points whenever they come, find a way to get three-point looks and make them and, against all odds, get some rebounds.
Well, the Hawkeyes were nearly doubled by the Gamecocks on the glass, getting outrebounded 49-25. Iowa did get a reasonable amount of three-point looks, but only hit 30.4 percent of them (7 of 23). And yet, Iowa won.
The free points were big: the Hawkeyes sunk all 14 of their free-throw attempts. But something else may have been bigger.
There are no proper words to describe what Caitlin Clark just did last night.
Haters aside, no one would have blamed Clark if she put up somewhat of a dud in Dallas. She has been everything for Iowa to even get here, and South Carolina’s defense has held teams to 51.8 PPG this season. Opponents shoot 32.1 percent from the field against this team.
It was fair to think South Carolina could turn Clark into a normal human being for one night. Instead, it was Clark that turned the Gamecocks into just another team to dominate.
41 points, 6 rebounds, 8 assists
Clark scored more points than nine full teams did against this year’s South Carolina team. She scored 53.2% of her team’s points. In the Final Four. Against an otherworldly defense.
I’ve never seen the Gamecocks have so few answers to a specific player. Clark’s threes were big, but she only hit 5 of 17 on the night. What impressed me the most was the way she got to the rim, with her relentless motor catching Gamecock defenders by surprise over and over again. Her touch on those finishes was also exceptional, as she was able to get shots off without being blocked or contested.
It was also the little things throughout the game, all of which are necessary when trying to take down such a monstrous opponent. Clark got her second foul in the second quarter, but stayed in and avoided getting the third until late in the fourth quarter. If she got into foul trouble, this was over.
That’s not to say it was strictly the Caitlin Clark show. I was not sure how Monika Czinano would have an impact in this game because of the size and athleticism that South Carolina has inside, but she finished with 18 huge points, along with three steals. The Clark-Czinano pick and roll worked wonders, as Clark’s gravity got the Gamecock defenders to bite just enough to get Czinano space.
Czinano also had some foul trouble, and while Hannah Stuelke and Addison O’Grady combined for just six points, those 22 combined minutes were massive for the Hawkeyes to maintain their lead.
The whole Hawkeye roster, as well as head coach Lisa Bluder, needs to be applauded for the defensive effort in this game. In a game with this much of a size advantage, I’m sure Dawn Staley did not game plan for 20 three attempts by her team. Iowa did an outstanding job of containing passes inside, forcing South Carolina guards to chuck up shots they were not comfortable taking.
Aliyah Boston was 2 of 9 in this game, finishing with 8 points. Iowa got her into foul trouble early, and Boston was never able to make the impact she so often does. Kamilla Cardoso (14 points, 14 rebounds, 7-9 FG) certainly gave Iowa fits, but the Hawkeyes’ containment of South Carolina’s superstar was absolutely critical to the win.
Man, what a game. This was outstanding from start to finish, one of the best basketball games I have seen in a long time. The national media begged for this game to be historic: the sport's biggest star against the sport’s most dominant team. The fact that it delivered and then some feels impossible.
South Carolina led four times at this game, each by one point. Those four leads lasted a combined 2:04. Iowa always scored the next points to regain the lead, but never had a double-digit lead all game as the Gamecocks fought back. This was not a game of runs, this was a slow, methodical war, and the fact that Iowa won that war shows what type of team this group of Hawkeyes is.
Women’s college basketball is such an incredible sport, and the growth has been notable all year long. Right or wrong, Clark is the face of it, so for her to put up a 41-point masterclass to lead Iowa to a win in a game that (I’m guessing) was among the sport’s most-watched ever, is so, so important for the growth of the sport. It was such a visceral joy to watch this game and know so many other eyes were on it too.
Iowa’s run has been just about everything it could have hoped for, but it’s not over yet.
The Hawkeyes will play LSU in the national championship. It will be the first title in program history for whoever wins.
This is poetic. It feels only right that the first Big Ten women’s basketball team to play in a national title game while this newsletter exists is against the team (more specifically, the coach) I dislike the most.
Kim Mulkey is a bad person who dresses funny. She is also an outstanding basketball coach, and has turned LSU into a force within two seasons at the program. It looked like Virginia Tech was headed here for a lot of the Final Four matchup, but LSU found a second wind and thoroughly dominated the Hokies in the fourth quarter to keep dancing.
The gameplay to beat LSU is extremely similar to the one needed to beat South Carolina, which is a big reason why the Tigers got killed by the Gamecocks when they played earlier in the season. Both teams dominate the paint and will out rebound you on their way to victories, but both also lack three-point shooting.
Angel Reese is an issue. She is borderline impossible to stop on the glass and will have to be handled like Boston for the Hawkeyes to win this game. Alexis Morris was also superb against Virginia Tech and is LSU’s best threat outside of the paint.
The good news is that Iowa beat the better version of LSU last night, but that does not mean this game will be easy, not even close. The Hawkeyes will need to shoot better from three and stay low on turnovers: Iowa only committed 10 against the Gamecocks, but LSU is actually significantly better at forcing them than South Carolina is.
Her Hoop Stats gives Iowa a 44.9% chance of beating LSU. While not the favorite, that is substantially higher than the 16.6% odds the Hawkeyes were given against South Carolina.
I fully expect Clark to do her thing, but getting help from the other outside shooters would be massive. Gabbie Marshall, Kate Martin and McKenna Warnock were held in check last night, scoring a combined 12 points on 4-of-12 shooting. Marshall, who was a flamethrower earlier in postseason play, missed her only shot attempt in 39 minutes of action. The less burden on Clark to do all the scoring, the better.
In 1980, the United States men’s hockey team took down the Soviet Union 4-3. What people often forget is that this was not the game that decided everything, and that the US still had to play Finland to win the gold medal.
I am not saying a 2 seed taking down South Carolina is comparable to the Miracle on Ice, but what I am saying is that it would have really sucked if the US laid an egg against Finland and the Soviet Union won the gold medal anyway.
Let’s hope Iowa has one more big game left in the tank. See you on Monday.