By Hawk Fanatic

IOWA CITY, Iowa – One of the perks for a highly successful college sports team/program is the opportunity to play in marquee matchups against elite opponents on big stages.

With that perk, however, also comes the challenge of trying to defeat an elite opponent.

The 11th-ranked Iowa women’s basketball team will face that challenge on Saturday when it plays top-ranked Connecticut at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.

The teams last met in the 2024 NCAA semifinal as Iowa edged the Huskies, 71-69, to advance to the 2024 National Championship for the second consecutive season.

But a lot has changed since then, most notably the fact that former All-America guard and NCAA all-time scoring leader Caitlin Clark no longer plays for the Hawkeyes.

Hannah Stuelke does, though, and the 6-foot-2 senior forward caused major problems for Connecticut in their last meeting, scoring 23 points on 9-of-12 shooting from the field.

Stuelke also plays alongside 6-4 sophomore center Ava Heiden, who is having a breakout season as Iowa’s leading scorer with a 15.2 per-game average. Heiden also leads Iowa with 14 blocks.

Iowa has 10 players that average from 4.6 to 15.2 points per game.

“They’re really good because they’re really well-balanced,” said Connecticut head coach Geno Auriemma said. “Their post players are really good, you know, they’re smart, they’re tough, they finish around the basket. They make eight or nine 3’s a game. So, it’s a good team that can do two things really well; they can score with their bigs in the lane, and their transition offense is really, really, really good.”

Connecticut is ranked eighth nationally in scoring defense, holding opponents to just 51.8 points per game, while Iowa averages 83.8 points per game.

“I think they’re going to be a real challenge,” Auriemma said. “They’re going to be a real test for us to see how good our defense really is, and especially our post defense.”

The Huskies also are a force on offense where they have multiple scoring threats, including 6-2 sophomore forward Sarah Strong, who is averaging a team-best 17.9 points and 8.5 rebounds per game on top of leading with 51 assists, 36 steals and 22 blocks.

“I think Sarah Strong is extremely special,” Iowa head coach Jan Jensen said this week in her pre-game press conference. “Everything everybody thought she was in high school, she has been. But this particular year, she plays the four, but then she can play the five, but she acts like a point (guard). That’s just something really rare.”

Jensen has been especially impressed with Connecticut’s tenacity on defense.

“They always have, but I feel like this particular team, they have a very intense defensive bounce to them,” Jensen said. “They’re full-court pressing, not that they always haven’t, but the way they’re doing it (now) and their quarter-court defense is really sensational. They don’t let you have much easy.

Connecticut’s defensive pressure will be a major test for Iowa sophomore point guard Chit-Chat Wright, and her backup, sophomore Taylor Stremlow.

Jensen will also face a major test in coaching against Auriemma, who has led Connecticut to a record 12 NCAA Championships, with the most recent coming this past season.

Iowa is expected to be without sophomore forward Emely Rodriguez, who has missed the last five games for an undisclosed reason.

The are reports that Rodriguez is serving an indefinite suspension due to violating team rules, though, Iowa has not confirmed it.

Rodriguez played her freshman season at Central Florida before transferring to Iowa this past summer.

Iowa (10-1, 1-0) vs. Connecticut (11-0, 3-0)

When: Saturday, 12:30 p.m.

Where: Brooklyn, New York, Barclays Center

TV: FOX

Radio: Hawkeye Radio Network

Series history: Connecticut leads the all-time series, 6-4.

Iowa won the last meeting against UConn, 71-69 to advance to the 2024 National Championship for the second consecutive season