Iowa women face yet another tough opponent in defending ACC champion North Carolina State
By Susan Harman
IOWA CITY, Iowa – The Iowa women’s basketball team is midway through the gauntlet that is its early non-conference schedule. Iowa is 5-2 with losses at Kansas State and against No. 3 Connecticut on a neutral court. Awaiting the 10th-ranked Hawkeyes are No. 12 North Carolina State, No. 8 Iowa State and Northern Iowa.
Iowa needs to make some headway against this level of competition to build its NCAA resume, and it won’t be easy. The Wolfpack (6-1), defending champion in the ACC, visits Iowa Thursday at 7:30 p.m. The game will be broadcast on ESPN2.
“It’s just an unbelievable opportunity. It’s an incredible matchup,” Iowa coach Lisa Bluder said. “This is a team that’s a proven, winning program.
“(N.C. State) is just a really good, solid team with three great shooters, and then they’ve got height. They’ve got height off the bench. This is a team that has at least four Power-Five (conference) transfers.
Actually it is five. N.C. State point guard Diamond Johnson began her career at Rutgers. She’s small but quick and can create off the dribble as well as shoot the three. She averages 13.6 points, four assists, and shoots 53 percent beyond the arc.
The Wolfpack also have transfers from Maryland (6-3 Mimi Collins), Florida State (6-5 River Baldwin), South Carolina (6-1 Saniya Rivers). Shooting guard Madison Hayes came over a year ago from Mississippi State.
The Pack likes to run, rebounds very well and is hard to score on inside.
“They have a lot of experience on this team, starting three seniors and two juniors,” Bluder said. “We need to box out; we’ve been trying to focus on that. I thought we did a decent job over the weekend of doing that. And then they push the ball so well. They are excellent in transition; they are excellent at finding their 3-point shooters in transition. To me that’s a key as well, finding their shooters in transition.”
Both teams have lost to UConn. Iowa was more competitive, but the Wolfpack had to play in Connecticut.
Iowa relied on its veteran starters against UConn with all five playing more than 32 minutes. Caitlin Clark went 40 and Gabbie Marshall 37. Bluder acknowledged the need to get her bench into the game earlier if for no other reason than giving the starters some rest. Bench production has been inconsistent, but that comes with a lot of youth.
What Iowa did get against UConn was scoring from different sources. Kate Martin poured in a career-high 20 points and made all six of her 3-point attempts. McKenna Warnock scored 14 and Marshall 10. That was enormously important considering UConn’s constant double teams held Monika Czinano to seven shots and eight points.
Bluder said Czinano has to be prepared for just about everything as teams try to clamp down on her in the post.
This will be the end of the ACC/Big Ten Challenge and Bluder wasn’t too happy about losing a game against a Power Five program that leaves an open date to fill.
She said trying to create something with the Big 12 makes the most sense or trying to lock in a home-and-home series with a Big 12 opponent like Iowa has with Kansas State. Another option is adding another Big Ten game if the conference approves.
Bluder said the move to end the series was initiated by the ACC men’s basketball coaches and the women’s coaches followed suit. The ACC will begin a similar challenge with the Southeastern Conference.
“We certainly want to go out with a victory,” Bluder said. “We have a great opportunity here on our home court.”