Iowa wrapped up an eventful trip to Cancun with a 68-48 victory over BYU Friday night, led by Hannah Stuelke's 16 points; she also added eight rebounds and three assists as the Hawkeyes finished off their
Jan Jensen becomes the first Hawkeye head coach to begin her career 8-0 with the win, which is also the fourth-best season start in program history.
"I'm so happy for the win, because of the fact of the adversity without Lucy Olsen," said Jensen, whose point guard missed her second-straight game after a freak practice accident left her with a deep cut on her knee; she's game-to-game. "Weathering not having your leader, captain, and still finding a way to win ... I'm just happy."
THE DEEP THREE
1. This team plays some serious defense. While Iowa's defense was never necessarily bad in the Caitlin Clark era, it's clear that this year's team has a different edge to it.
BYU made only 5-of-25 shots in the first half as Iowa built a 25-16 halftime lead. The Cougars are now the fifth team Iowa has held under 60 points in its 8-0 start, and the second held under 50.
The Cougars' two most potent weapons on offense, guard Delaney Gibb and forward Emma Calvert, came into the game averaging a combined 32 points. Iowa held the two to 2-for-16 shooting and a combined nine points in Friday's win, and Calvert spent most of the game limited with foul trouble.
"Kylie [Feuerbach] just did an outstanding job of making it really tough on [Gibb]," said assistant coach Randi Henderson. "Overall, I thought our defensive effort, our ability to play scout and make it really tough for them in the halfcourt helped us through our turnover woes."
2. This team needs Lucy Olsen back. In Olsen's second game out with the freak cut to her knee, Iowa's true freshmen went through another bout of growing pains against pressure.
BYU hounded the Hawkeyes into 16 turnovers in the first half, and 23 altogether, after the Hawkeyes turned it over 22 times against Rhode Island Thursday. At least Iowa only committed seven turnovers in the second half; incremental progress is still progress, and for freshmen like Taylor Stremlow and Aaliyah Guyton, who stepped up at the 1 again Friday, all progress is important.
Turnovers were our biggest issue in the first half," said Stuelke. "Our point guards kind of came around, flipped the switch, and then they were just bringing the ball up the court."
With an athletic foe looming in another big-time matchup, Iowa has got to have its main ball-handler back.
"What's great is, Tennessee presses 24/7," said Jensen of next week's opponent. "Now they're probably licking their chops. This has really exposed where we had a weakness. I'm really hopeful Lucy will be back for that [game]."
Freshman Taylor Stremlow started at point guard in Olsen's absence for another game, but had another silent day on the rest of the stat sheet, with only one rebound and one assist to accompany her three turnovers and three fouls.
Stremlow finishes the weekend scoreless, playing out of position as a natural wing, but coaches aren't down on anything about her performance.
"Stremlow did a great job playing a position she has not even practiced," said Henderson. "Collaboratively, they did a great job of filling in the gaps for Lucy."
"At the beginning, their pressure and their physicality really disrupted us a lot," said Henderson. "We got a little better handle on it and [BYU] got a little tired in the second half, and so our turnovers went down."
If there's good news at point, it's the emergence of Aaliyah Guyton, who registered another significant step forward in her return from an ACL injury with her first double-digit scoring day, in just her third career appearance. Guyton made all three of her three-point attempts Friday and finished with 11 points, which is not likely to be a career high for very long.
"Aaliyah, it's been super fun to watch her come along," said Henderson. "She's going to be a really good player."
3. This team is growing before fans' eyes. It's easy to forget with an 8-0 start how hampered this team has been with inexperience. Olsen and five freshmen joined the team in the spring, and starters Syd Affolter and Hannah Stuelke missed significant portions of the offseason due to knee injuries — as did point guards Kennise Johnson and Guyton. Johnson remains out, while Guyton is essentially trying to play catch-up with the speed of the college game mid-season.
And then Olsen gets taken out by the surroundings at the ballroom.
Affolter and Stuelke are not only back and playing to form, but they were instrumental in the win Friday. Stuelke led the team in scoring, while Affolter led the team in rebounds with 10, her sixth game with double-digit boards, and with four assists.
Second on the team: Stuelke with three.
"Without Lucy, I had to step up a little bit more," said Stuelke. "It was just a mindset. We came out, played great, and I'm really proud of us."
Another welcome development for the young Hawkeyes: the three-ball finally waking up.
The Hawkeyes came down to Cancun and made 17-of-40 shots from three-point range, a 42.5% clip. That includes an 11-for-23 effort against the Cougars Friday night, headlined by Guyton's 3-for-3 effort.
"We just needed to go down to Mexico and Cancun and heat up a bit," said Jensen. "Tonight, that second half when they loosened up, that's what we've seen a lot in practice. I'm thrilled because it was 47% from twos, 47% from threes, but the biggest thing, I just want these guys to get confidence and know that they've seen it go down against a nice opponent."
Indeed, the Iowa staff was thrilled with its young team's execution Friday, especially once those shots were falling — or really, once they were going up.
"Our execution when we didn't turn [the ball] over was very, very good," said Henderson. "In our shot selection, we took good shots and made good shots. We found our posts; I thought Hannah Stuelke played amazing offensively and defensively. I thought Kylie was outstanding defensively and so was Syd."
Iowa's ramp up for the Big Ten gauntlet continues next Saturday, when it faces Tennessee at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn as part of the Women's Champion Classic.
"It gets real hard, real quick, right?" said Jensen. "And real fun. We're honored to be asked to play in that tournament."
"This weekend's games prepared us for what's to come with Tennessee," said Henderson. "A really good, athletic team that will press and pressure. It's going to be tough, but it'll be a super cool opportunity to be up there."
That game is scheduled to tip off at 6 PM CT on Saturday, December 7 on FOX.
