Big stage, big win: Hawkeyes rolls past #14 Indiana in a primetime showdown
Blizzard conditions raged outside of Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Saturday night, but that didn’t stop over 14,000 fans from packing the seats for a highly-anticipated top 15 showdown between Iowa and Indiana. Despite being inside and out of the elements, Teri Moren and her team may have felt like they were stuck in a Hawkeye blizzard during the second half. Iowa outscored the Hoosiers 41-20 in over the last two quarters and rolled to an 84-57 victory. The win vaults the Hawkeyes into sole possession of first place in the Big Ten standings, while the 14-game winning streak is the longest under Lisa Bluder.
“The crowd was amazing. I don’t think I’ve ever heard it that loud in Carver,” said head coach Lisa Bluder. “You’re not supposed to be outside because of the wind chill and we have 14,000 people here…It’s dangerous outside and our fans don’t care.”
The game tipped off and the first punch of the Big Ten heavyweight showdown was landed by the Hawkeyes. A couple of made three-pointers from Molly Davis got Iowa out to a 9-4 lead, but the punch did not have a lasting effect on the Hoosiers. Three straight baskets from Mackenzie Holmes tied the game up 17 points apiece. Iowa led just 19-17 after the opening ten minutes.
Early in the game, the three ball was not falling for the Hawkeyes. They started 2/13 from behind the arc, while Caitlin Clark was 0/6 in the opening quarter. She finally got a pair of threes to fall to open up a 25-19 lead. However, just minutes later, Clark picked up her second foul, on the offensive end, and went to the bench. Normally, you see a dropoff in the offensive production with her on the bench, but fifth-year senior Molly Davis was up for the challenge.
With a slim 28-26 lead, Davis got to the hoop and converted a layup, plus the contact from Chloe Moore-McNeil for a three-point play. Moments later, she stole a pass from Mackenzie Holmes and took it to the other end for a layup. On the ensuing Iowa possession, it was Davis again, getting to the hoop for another basket. She scored seven points in the span over 1:52 and finished with 13 first half points.
“There’s no doubt she did (keep us on track). Caitlin goes out, Molly moves over to point guard and I thought she did a tremendous job leading our team,” said Bluder.
“Just to think about where I was at Central Michigan to here now, it kind of chokes me up a little bit,” said Davis. “For Coach Bluder to give me an opportunity to play at a place like this really means a lot to me.”
Clark checked back into the game late in the half and buried a couple more three-pointers to give the Hawkeyes a 43-37 lead going into halftime. Both teams went into the locker room feeling like they had some things to adjust going into the second half, but neither was upset with where they stood.
“We didn’t make a lot of defensive adjustments, we just talked about a couple of offensive things that we wanted to do, but defensively, we just talked about boxing out and we adjusted how we were helping in the post,” said Bluder.
“(We) turned it over way too much, but in spite of all of our turnovers, we still felt decent about the score at halftime,” said Coach Moren. “I thought we were doing a pretty decent job.”
Much like the way the game started, the Hawkeyes were the ones to land the first punch in the second half. However, this punch had a lasting impact on the game. Caitlin Clark got a basket on the first possession of the half to extend the lead to eight points. Then, all of the sudden, shots from behind the arc starting finding the bottom of the net. Kate Martin, Caitlin Clark and Gabbie Marshall each hit three-pointers to cap off an 11-2 run to open the third quarter. Indiana head coach Teri Moren took a timeout, trailing 54-39, with 4:57 remaining in the quarter. The timeout was obviously an attempt at cutting the momentum the Hawkeyes had gathered, but things just snowballed on the Hoosiers.
“There’s no doubt (that it snowballed). There were a couple of those moments in the second half,” said Moren. “That kind of thing is contagioius. You see one of those shots go in and then Gabbie sees a shot go in and then Kate sees a shot. It’s contagious. It wasn’t fun.”
Top 10
- 1New
Desean Jackson
Finalizing deal to be college HC
- 2
Jim Larranaga
Miami HC set to step down
- 3Hot
CFP selection process
Urban Meyer predicts changes
- 4
National Championship odds
Updated odds are in
- 5
LaNorris Sellers
South Carolina QB signs NIL deal to return
Get the On3 Top 10 to your inbox every morning
By clicking "Subscribe to Newsletter", I agree to On3's Privacy Notice, Terms, and use of my personal information described therein.
After the run, Iowa went nearly three minutes without a made field goal, but Indiana wasn’t able to make a dent in the double digit deficit. A three from Gabbie Marshall made it 59-43, while a quick 5-0 run in the last 40 seconds of the quarter allowed the Hawkeyes to go into the final ten minutes with a 65-48 lead. Caitlin Clark said she felt like there were a few things that led to taking over the game in the third quarter.
“Our shooting got a lot better in the second half. In the first half our transition defense wasn’t all that great, I think at half they had 12 points on us in transition. When we started playing some zone we struggled to get back and set up. I think overall our defense was better. We were physical, we boxed out, we didn’t let a ton of second chances and then we pushed really hard in transition. I think they got a little worn down.”
Up by 16 points, nearing the midway point of the fourth quarter, Iowa had one more short spurt left in them to put the finishing touches on any thought of an Indiana rally. Gabbie Marshall knocked down a fourth three-pointer of the game, followed by a layup from Kate Martin, which was followed by a Sydney Affolter three-pointer. The 8-0 run put Iowa ahead 77-53 and they cruised to the 84-57 final score.
“That second half was beautiful. I thought our players played really well together, defensively and offensively,” said Bluder. “Everybody knows what this team can do offensively, but tonight they did the job defensively as well. I thought Molly Davis was simply outstanding on Sara Scalia.”
Indiana’s top three-point shooters, Sydney Parrish and Sara Scalia, were a combined 1/8 from behind the arc. Scalia finished the game with just six points on 3/10 shooting. Mackenzie Holmes finished with 16 points, but that wasn’t enough to carry them past their struggles shooting from outside.
Caitlin Clark finished the night with a double-double 30 points, 11 assists and five rebounds. She now sits just ten points behind former Baylor center Britney Griner for fourth on the NCAA scoring list. Molly Davis added an Iowa career-high 18 points, while Gabbie Marshall made four three-pointers for the third consecutive game. Kate Martin put up a double-double ten points and 12 rebounds.
Looking at the team stats, Iowa outrebounded Indiana 37-28, pulling down 29 of 34 (85.3%) defensive rebounds. The Hoosiers had the decided advantage on the interior going into the contest with Mackenzie Holmes, but outscored Iowa just 30-28 in points in the paint.
Up Next, the Hawkeyes will welcome the Wisconsin Badgers to Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Tuesday night. Iowa won the first matchup in Madison by a final score of 87-65 back on December 10th. Tipoff is set for 8:00pm CT and will be streamed on Peacock.
