Iowa women face Cleveland State as part of Hy-Vee Hawkeye Showcase doubleheader
Iowa men face Florida A&M in first game in Des Moines
By Susan Harman
IOWA CITY, Iowa – Finals are in the books, and only two non-conference games remain before the Iowa women’s basketball team swims into the shark tank that is the Big Ten regular season.
The Hawkeyes play Cleveland State Saturday at 6 p.m. at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines as part of a double header with the men’s team, which will face Florida A&M at 3:37 p.m. in the first game. The event, billed as the Hy-Vee Hawkeye Showcase, is sold out but will be shown on BTN and heard on the Hawkeye Radio Network.
“I’m excited to go back to Des Moines and have the opportunity to coach in (Wells Fargo Arena),” Iowa coach Lisa Bluder said. I’ve never coached in (the Arena), but I’m really excited for Caitlin (Clark) to go to Des Moines and play in front of a home crowd.”
Bluder has recruited at the Well since the girls state basketball tournament was moved there from Veterans Memorial Auditorium, and she coached at Drake for 10 years but the Bulldogs play on campus.
Bluder added that a neutral-court game counts more than a home game in the NCAA’s NET ranking system. But, of course, this will not be a neutral-court setting. This is Iowa’s capital city and Clark’s home. It’s also called the Hawkeye Showcase in case you had any doubt.
Cleveland State has already had a devastating injury, losing its best player, 5-10 senior guard Destiny Leo, to a season-ending injury. She was the team’s leading scorer (20.7 ppg) and last season’s Horizon League player of the year.
“They do have a very, very nice point guard in (5-8 junior) Colbi Maples,” Bluder said. “She’s a pretty talented player. A good penetrator, can shoot the three well, really a nice facilitator. (Leo’s injury) is unfortunate because you want to play teams when they’re at their best. But at the same time I think everybody’s kind of picked up for her.”
The Vikings (9-1) have 6-3 sophomore Jordana Reisma starting in the post along with 6-1 Carmen Villalobos, the leading rebounder. Coach Chris Kielsmeier, an Iowa native, has played a lot of players. Ten players average at least 12 minutes, but Iowa also has 10 players averaging at least 10 minutes on the floor. That may be a function of blowing out opponents in the early season.
The teams have one common opponent, Bowling Green. The Vikings lost 89-86 on the road, and Iowa beat the Falcons 99-65 in Iowa City.
Iowa (10-1) plays host to Loyola (Ill.) on Dec. 21 in its final non-conference game, and Minnesota visits Dec. 30 to start the Big Ten in earnest.
“(The victory at Wisconsin) just sets the tone for the year for us,” Bluder said. “As far as Big Ten play you don’t want to (have to) get yourself out of hole, and certainly Wisconsin is a team that on paper we should have beaten and we did. You don’t want to have any of those kinds of upsets early in the year.”
Bluder said her team’s preparation for the Big Ten will be directed inward.
“We know what it’s like, a lot of different styles, a lot of hostile environments that we’re going to be playing in and (against) a lot of talented players,” she said. “But how can we make ourselves better right now going into Big Ten play? To me it’s about execution. It’s about being disciplined in running our offense. It’s about being disciplined in talking and boxing out every time and being disciplined in running our offense.”
Bluder said she thinks sophomore Hannah Stuelke is close to normal after sitting out three games with a leg injury. Bluder suggested Stuelke’s timing was a bit off against the Badgers after she missed a number of bunnies at the rim.
“When you miss time it just takes a while to get back not only physically, mentally, timing-wise, just get your aggressiveness back, and I think that’s what we still need to see out of her and the aggressiveness on the boards because she’s spectacular on the boards,” Bluder said.