No. 6 Iowa 96, No. 8 Maryland 82: Beating the Best

Since joining the Big Ten in 2014-2015 Maryland has been the class of the conference virtually every year. The Terps have won the conference outright five times, tied for first once, finished second once, and finished tied for third last year.

Coming into this season, though, Maryland’s position at the top of the conference was in question. The Terps lost key pieces like Angel Reese and had to rely on several transfer to right the ship. The rest of the conference, meanwhile, had seemingly caught up to Maryland’s level, with Iowa, Ohio State, and Indiana all projected to have strong seasons.

Thus far, Maryland has been just as strong as ever. The Terps are 18-4 overall and 9-2 in conference. They have big wins over #5 UConn and #9 Notre Dame.

In past years, it’s felt like Iowa had little to no chance of beating Maryland. The Terps are usually significantly more athletic than Iowa. They usually have one of the best offenses in the country. That combined with Iowa’s typically poor defense has usually led to entertaining games that Iowa has lost more often than not.

This year feels different. Maryland still has a great offense. The Terps still have some very good and athletic players. But Maryland also seems more vulnerable than it has been in a while. And Iowa finally is finding the best version of itself -- one that can win games with rebounding and defense along with its offense.

Would Iowa defend its home court in a Top 10 matchup, or would Maryland get the better of Iowa again?

The game started about as well as it could’ve for Iowa. Offensively, Caitlin Clark was hot from the field early, and Iowa was able to get the ball inside to Monika Czinano or Hannah Stuelke. Defensively, Iowa used its player-to-player defense, but played way off of most of Maryland’s shooters daring Maryland to shoot. The Terps took plenty of jumpers early and missed most of them. All told, Iowa led 19-8 with 3:19 to play in the first when Maryland called timeout.

After the timeout, Maryland started to attack the paint better offensively. Iowa kept shooting well offensively, though, and Iowa held its lead. McKenna Warnock’s late and-1 pushed Iowa’s lead to 29-18 after one.

Iowa stayed on fire early in the second quarter and Maryland called for timeout again with Iowa leading 40-24 with 6:57 to play. At that point, Clark and Czinano (18 and 10 respectively) were outscoring Maryland by themselves.

The rest of the quarter was a track meet, but Iowa kept on rolling offensively and led 56-38 at the half. Clark had 24 points, 5 rebounds, and 5 assists AT THE HALF. Czinano was right behind her with 18 of her own.

Iowa quickly pushed its lead to 20 early in the third quarter, but then the Hawkeyes got sloppy on offense. Maryland, meanwhile, kept attacking the basket or grabbing offensive rebounds on missed shots. Iowa called for timeout at the 4:59 mark of the quarter with the lead down to just 10 at 62-52.

After the timeout, Iowa calmed down and got its offense working again. The Hawks kept the lead in double-digits then went on a run late in the quarter thanks to a step-back three from Clark and a nice home run pass from Clark to Stuelke. Maryland called timeout with 1:42 left and Iowa leading 73-57. Maryland got a couple good offensive possessions to end the quarter, but Iowa still led 74-60 after three.

The fourth quarter was back and forth. Iowa briefly extended its lead before Maryland made a couple more runs. Each time Maryland made a run, though, Iowa always had an answer offensively, and Maryland never cut the lead down to single digits. Iowa ultimately won 96-82.

Clark led Iowa with 42 points, 8 assists, and 7 rebounds. She had one of her best shooting nights of the season, going 13/19 from the floor and 6/11 from three. Czinano dominated in the post, scoring 28 points on 14/18 shooting. Stuelke was a perfect 5/5 from the floor and scored 13. A box score for the game is here.

You don’t need me to tell you that Iowa’s offense is really good. On better nights, it’s arguably the best offense in college basketball.

Tonight was different. In the first half especially, Iowa’s offense was unstoppable. Clark was hitting shots from everywhere. Czinano was getting open most possessions in the low post and converted virtually every time she touched the ball in the paint. And Stuelke consistently beat everyone down the floor to get home run layups when Iowa pushed in transition.

As good as Iowa’s offense was, there were large stretches of this game where the Hawkeyes were extremely poor defensively and on the glass. Maryland had 15 offensive rebounds, and got plenty of great looks at the basket.

The rebounding issue is somewhat understandable. Maryland shot a lot of jumpers, and that led to some long rebounds Iowa couldn’t easily control. But overall Iowa’s effort on the defensive glass in boxing out or hustling to balls just wasn’t there.

Defensively, Iowa lacked focus. There were several times after a made basket where Maryland got a transition layup or easy shot because Iowa never tried to stop the ball. The Hawks also got beat off the dribble early and often, and there was no real help defense to speak of when Maryland beat the first defender.

Yes, Maryland is a good offensive team. Yes, players like Diamond Miller are more athletic than any guard on Iowa’s roster. But that doesn’t excuse a lack of effort. If Iowa’s offense wasn’t so spectacular, this game could’ve gone much differently. Iowa really should have had the game wrapped up in the first half.

1) 11-1 Indiana
2) 10-1 Iowa
3) 9-3 Maryland
3) 9-3 Ohio State
5) 8-4 Michigan

Last week and today were big for developments at the top of the Big Ten standings. After Iowa beat Ohio State, the Buckeyes went on a losing streak, falling to Indiana on the road and Purdue at home. With Maryland’s loss to Iowa, the conference race now seems fairly straightforward.

One of Iowa or Indiana is overwhelmingly likely to win the Big Ten. The two teams will face each other twice in the season’s final few weeks. Maryland and Ohio State are both very good teams, but they will likely need to win out to even have a chance for a share of the title. Both have some big games left too, so that’s pretty unlikely.

Iowa returns to action this Sunday, February 5th at 11 AM CT on the road at Penn State. The game will be televised on the Big Ten Network. Iowa destroyed Penn State 108-67 at home earlier this year, but things can change dramatically when you go on the road in the Big Ten.