Iowa's upset bid falls short against third-ranked UCLA

No matter how highly ranked the opponent, facing a sold-out crowd of nearly 15,000 is something that not many teams have experienced, and few are prepared for. Visiting teams quickly learn one lesson: never underestimate the power of the Carver-Hawkeye Arena crowd. The third-ranked UCLA Bruins (26-1, 14-1) erased a 12-point second half deficit and lived to tell the tale of their narrow escape. A late pair of free throws from freshman guard Elina Aarnisalo gave the Bruins are 67-65 win over the Hawkeyes (18-9, 8-8). For Iowa, they’ve now suffered consecutive heartbreaking losses against AP top 10 teams.

“I told them I’m proud of them,” said head coach Jan Jensen.” Until we collectively get kind of tired of coming that close, we can’t flip some of those games, but they battled.”

“I think it’s makes us even hungrier than anything else,” said Taylor McCabe. “We’ve just got to stay locked in and keep learning from each game but knowing that we are right there…We’re going to let it hurt a little bit, but we’re going to be back at it tomorrow.”

As painful as the loss in Columbus was on Monday, this one was even more excruciating. After falling behind early, the Hawkeyes surged ahead, using a 14-2 run, fueled by eight points from Taylor McCabe, midway through the second quarter. That run helped Iowa take a 36-29 lead into the locker room at halftime. Lauren Betts was proving to be a nearly unstoppable force in the paint, but her teammates around her shot just 8/25 from the floor and 1/11 from three over the opening 20 minutes. Despite Betts’ putting up 12 points on 5/6 shooting, it was shaping up to be a recipe for a Hawkeyes upset if the Bruins couldn’t find other scoring options.

“They were more aggressive than we were in multiple facets of the game,” said UCLA head coach Cori Close. “We missed a couple of threes, and we let that disappointment make us less aggressive. Instead of playmakers, we sort of were hoping we could get a stop in response…We didn’t have very good next play (mentality) in the first half, so we needed to regroup and come back and play more focused.”

Iowa kept the good vibes going early in the second half, with Lucy Olsen burying a three-pointer on the opening possession to make it a double-digit advantage. Later, Kylie Feuerbach rattled in an open triple, while Taylor McCabe answered a Lauren Betts basket with a backdoor cut layup, pushing the score to 46-34 in favor of the Hawkeyes. UCLA needed an answer, and they needed it quickly.

On the ensuing possession, after the McCabe basket, Angela Dugalic knocked down a three-pointer and Lauren Betts followed with a layup to cut the Iowa advantage to 46-39. That got the wheels turning on the Bruins comeback effort. They went on a 16-4 run to end the third quarter, tying the game at 50 apiece. After leading by as many as 12 points, the Hawkeyes lead had completely evaporated, and the game became a ten-minute sprint to the finish.

“It really came down to the third quarter where we didn’t execute,” said Jensen. “I told our staff that’s where it went wrong. Then we just got flustered at the wrong time…We did too many back-to-back errors and you can’t do that, especially on your home court against one of the top three teams in the country.”

For much of the second and third quarter, the Hawkeyes were the aggressor and forced UCLA to chase. That’s the type of game you have to play if you’re looking to pull off a major upset. However, in the fourth quarter, the Bruins forced Iowa into the chasing position. Kiki Rice missed her first four three-point attempts, but was clutch when it came time to be clutch. She drilled pair of threes, one to make it 57-54 Bruins, and another with 2:19 to play, giving UCLA a 62-60 lead. Dugalic followed with a basket, pushing the lead to 64-60, but Iowa would get their chance to force overtime, trailing 65-62 with under 30 seconds to play.

The possession for the Hawkeyes yielded two three-point attempts. The first from Lucy Olsen was off the mark, but Hannah Stuelke got the offensive rebound and kicked it back out to Olsen for a second look. This time, Lucy was fouled by Kendall Dudley with 6.8 to play. The senior stepped up to the line and did not miss. Swish, swish, swish. Tie game.

Overtime seemed to be increasingly likely, but it never got that far. Out of the UCLA timeout, Elina Aarnisalo got the inbounds pass and drove around a screen from Angela Dugalic. Lucy Olsen was tripped up going around the screen, went to the floor and took Aarnisalo with her, which drew a whistle much to the dismay of the 15,000 fans in attendance. The true freshman knocked down both free throws and Iowa got one final chance, down 67-65 with 3.8 to play.

Syd Affolter was set to inbound the ball, but the timing on the side out of bounds play ran short with their first couple of options covered. Finally, Affolter got the ball in, finding Addi O’Grady at the top of the key for what would have been just the second made three of her career. Instead, her three-pointer came up well short and the Hawkeyes bid at an upset went by the wayside.

“We were looking at three different looks. First look, Hannah with a really quick dive on a screen. Second look, Lucy coming around and if the two went with Lucy, Addison was going to be there,” said Jensen. “Would have been a storybook ending, but that would have been a good play with a lucky ending because we don’t practice it.”

A high-risk, high reward play call that would have been revered if it worked, but instead will be considered a controversial decision.

On the night, the Hawkeyes were 22 of 60 (36.7%) from the floor and 6 of 17 (35.3%) from three-point range. Lucy Olsen totaled a team-high 17 points and five rebounds, while Hannah Stuelke (11), Taylor McCabe (10) and Addi O’Grady (10) all finished in double figures scoring. The Bruins won the battle on the glass, outrebounding the Hawkeyes 43-34. Iowa won the turnover battle, turning the ball over just eight times to UCLA’s 14 turnovers.

Up Next: The Hawkeyes travel to Ann Arbor for a matchup against the Michigan Wolverines on Wednesday. Tipoff is set for 6:00pm CT on BTN+.