The Hawkeyes came out and dominated from the initial tipoff, jumping out to an impressive 42-2 lead, as they cruised to an easy 102-32 victory vs Truman State. Despite Truman State being a DII, it was an impressive showing for the #9 team in the nation, as all 11 players that logged minutes scored.
Offense
Caitlin Clark was as advertised knocking down four three pointers, as she totaled 25 points, 8 rebounds and 9 assists. After Covid derailed last season, over 4700 fans were back in attendance to see the Hawkeyes.
“It was pretty awesome. Kind of made me a little more nervous than usual…To see that amount of fans come out, I think that just shows the excitement and buzz around this team,” said Caitlin Clark on her first game in front of a crowd at Carver.
McKenna Warnock added 18 points and led the team with ten rebounds, but the surprise of the night came from true freshman Addison O’Grady who totaled 19 points on 9/12 shooting in her first game as a Hawkeye.
“She’s got a soft touch; she runs the floor very well. She was a high school volleyball slash basketball player, so you can see some of those skills out there,” said Coach Bluder reflecting on her freshman’s performance.
Kylie Feuerbach knocked down a pair of three pointers and added a total of nine points in her debut as a Hawkeye after transferring from Iowa State. Tomi Taiwo added eight points as well.
Overall, the team shot 57.1% from the floor and 45.8% from behind the arc, while notching 26 assists to just seven turnovers.
Defense
The big point of emphasis all season was defense and the Hawkeyes looked strong, especially in the first half, holding the Bulldogs to just 11 points on 2/36 shooting. The communication on the floor sounded really good and the defensive performance backed it up.
“I thought our help side (defense) was a lot better. I thought we handled some ball screens pretty well. We boxed out, they only got 17% of offensive rebounds, so that was good to see,” said Coach Bluder. “I thought our intensity and desire to get out there and play defense was good.”
The Iowa defense forced 15 turnovers and out rebounded Truman State 60-31. The competition will get much stiffer as the season begins, but the defensive performance was something to build off of going into the season opener.
“I think our communication was really great out there. To see those young girls come in and work really hard on defense. We’ve been talking about it for months now, so just to see it pay off with all that hard work,” said McKenna Warnock.
Freshman
As mentioned above, Addison O’Grady led the way for the freshman totaling 19 points over 12.5 minutes on the floor. It will be interesting to see how Coach Bluder spreads out the minutes behind Monika Czinano, as Logan Cook is the more experienced option, but O’Grady looked very comfortable tonight.
Sydney Affolter was the first freshman off the bench and scored three points, while grabbing eight rebounds over 16 minutes. AJ Ediger saw just five minutes, but showed some good possessions on both the offensive and defensive side. Ediger scored four points and grabbed four rebounds.
Minutes Played
Caitlin Clark and Kate Martin led the way playing 25 minutes each, while McKenna Warnock, Tomi Taiwo and Kylie Feuerbach played over 20 minutes.
Gabbie Marshall saw 18 minutes, while Logan Cook and Monika Czinano both played 14 minutes.
The starting five seems pretty set with Clark, Martin, Warnock, Marshall and Czinano, but there are plenty of options behind them. Coach Bluder used four different players to bring the ball up court, which shows the team’s versatility.
After watching the game tonight, I would not be surprised to see all 11 players log valuable minutes this season.
The Hawkeyes play their official season opener at Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Tuesday at 6pm vs New Hampshire. The game will be streamed on BTN+. The Wildcats went 5-15 last season and were 5-11 during America East conference play.
