Hawkeyes handle business, cruise past upset minded Minnesota

No one would have faulted the Iowa women’s basketball team had they come out of the gates a little sluggish this afternoon. Nine days between games, home a few days for the holidays and facing a team that they haven’t lost to since the 2018 Big Ten Tournament. However, Lisa Bluder’s Hawkeyes were locked in from the start. They built a double digit lead in the first quarter and never looked back, as they defeated a young, upset minded Minnesota squad 94-71 to move to 2-0 in Big Ten play. The Hawkeyes have now won 14 straight meetings against the Gophers in Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

“Good way to start the Big Ten season up again. I’m really happy with the way we came out and executed. I thought our team was really focused, they knew the scout really well and I thought we took advantage of some things that we were really trying to stress with our team,” said Lisa Bluder. “Happy with the way we came out and played this game.”

“We prepared really well for this game, so we were just ready to be back out on the court and show everybody in the Big Ten what we’re about,” said Hannah Stuelke.

Minnesota came into the game with an 11-1 record, including wins over Drake, Kentucky and Purdue. The one thing that was missing on their early resume was a road test in a tough environment. Their lone road game at Kentucky had just 3,386 fans in attendance. The sellout crowd at Carver-Hawkeye Arena brought energy from the opening tip and on the court, the Hawkeyes showed no signs of rust.

“It’s easy to get up for a game right after Christmas, especially when we had a crowd like we did today. A truly sold out crowd that was very into it and was loud,” said Caitlin Clark. “We took this team very seriously. They’re really good, they’re a young team…I think the start to the game, getting up nine or ten was huge for us and they struggled to fight back from that point.”

The defense held the Gophers to 2/9 shooting over the first five minutes of the game and a three-pointer from Kate Martin capped off a 16-4 run to begin the game. Minnesota’s leading scorer Mara Braun did not make her first basket until the 4:51 mark of the first quarter and was held in check for most of the night. Gabbie Marshall drew the assignment on Braun and was able to get her out of her rhythm early in the game. When Marshall checked out of the game in the fourth quarter, Braun was just 3/13 from the floor.

“I think Gabbie did a great job of trying to keep the ball out of her hands and when she did get it, it was a rushed or there was no space. I just think she made it really hard on her all night long,” said Bluder. “She held Mara Braun to really tough numbers and she’s a very good player. Gabbie’s defense was spectacular today.”

The Gophers got shots to fall at different points of the first half, but could never consistently get things going. The Iowa defense held Minnesota to 13/39 (33.3%) from the floor and 2/10 (20.0%) from three-point range in the first half. They also outrebounded them 28-15, which allowed them to get out in transition. Caitlin Clark put up 17 points and five assists in the first half and the Hawkeyes took a 49-31 lead into the break.

“Our defense was good, so that leads to a lot of easy stuff in transition. I thought Hannah ran the floor really hard. I thought our fours and fives did a really good job taking the ball out very quickly and getting it to the side we wanted to get it to,” said Clark. “It makes life a little easier when were not getting pressured coming up the floor. We were able to outlet the ball really fast and get it up the court.”

Hannah Stuelke in particular was impressive, going for 19 points on 9/10 shooting, as well as eight rebounds in under 23 minutes on the floor. Caitlin Clark was able to rack up assists with passes to Stuelke, including one late in the third quarter that put the Hawkeyes up 68-44. Clark threw a transition bounce pass to Stuelke for a layup, but let go of the pass, while Hannah was still in the process of outrunning the Minnesota defense.

“Hannah runs the floor so well and I could kind of see that she had a step on her girl, maybe was right to her for a second, but I had a lot of faith that Hannah would kick it into gear,” said Clark. “It was a tough pass to handle. Hannah had to go down, collect it and go up and finish with a defender next to her.”

Assists became the big story for Caitlin on Saturday afternoon. Her fifth assist of the first half put her past former Hawkeye Samantha Logic for the most in program history. In the third quarter, her eighth assist of the game, a pass inside to Hannah Stuelke, put her past former Ohio State guard Samantha Prahalis for the most in Big Ten history. Clark finished the game with 35 points, eight three-pointers, five rebounds and ten assists. It’s the 49th double-double of her career.

Taking a look at the race for the NCAA all-time scoring record, Caitlin passed Lauri Baumann (Drake) and Patricia Hoskins (MVSU) for 5th all-time in scoring. She now sits just 378 points away from Kelsey Plum.

Kate Martin was the third leading scorer with 13 points, six rebounds and three assists, while Sydney Affolter added eight points and six rebounds off the bench. The Hawkeyes shot 35/60 (58.3%) from the floor and knocked down 11 three-pointers. They outrebounded the Gophers 43-32, including 34-21 on the defensive glass.

Defensively, the Hawkeyes held the Gophers to 28/71 (39.4%) shooting and 3/19 (15.8%) from three-point range. Mara Braun came into the game shooting 40% from behind the arc, but shot just 4/16 from the floor and 0/5 from three-point range.

Up Next, the Hawkeyes will welcome the Michigan State Spartans to Carver-Hawkeye Arena for the first game of the new year on January 2nd. Tipoff is set for 8:00pm and the game will be streamed on Peacock.