Iowa's bid for a fourth-straight Big Ten Tournament title -- and what would have been a record-setting 12th consecutive Big Ten Tournament victory -- came up just short on Friday night, as the Hawkeyes fell to No. 13 Ohio State, 60-59. The Hawkeyes led with under a minute to go, but couldn't see out the victory; a pair of Cotie McMahon free throws with 6.7 seconds to go gave Ohio State its final lead of the game and the Hawkeyes weren't able to convert a pair of scoring chances at the other end before time expired.
With the defeat, Iowa falls to 22-10 overall, while Ohio State improves to 25-5. The Hawkeyes will now have two weeks off until the 2025 NCAA Tournament gets underway.
The Deep Three breaks down the big takeaways from Iowa's very narrow loss.
1. Almost Got 'Em - Again
For all the strides Iowa has made in this rebuilding season without Lisa Bluder, Caitlin Clark, Kate Martin, Gabbie Marshall, and more, one thing has elude the new-look Hawkeyes under head coach Jan Jensen: close game success. Tonight's defeat drops the Hawkeyes to 0-5 in one-possession games this year -- that's half of Iowa's total losses for the season. Truly, one-score games have been Iowa's kryptonite.
In several of those losses, Iowa has had potential game-winning (or game-tying) shots at the buzzer, but couldn't convert. Addison O'Grady missed game-ending baskets at Oregon and against UCLA, while Sydney Affolter and Hannah Stuelke each got off unsuccessful potential game-winning shots tonight.
"I think when you go, you kind of think [of] your sets, sometimes you kind of go with who you think is going to hit the corner pocket," said Jensen after the game. "Then I'll go back and think, oh, maybe we should have thrown it inside. Maybe we shouldn't have driven it."
The end-of-game struggles in close games seem indicative of this Iowa team in a few ways. One, this team is good -- and very, very close to being really good. It just hasn't been able to quite get over that hump to win the tightest games. Two, this is a roster -- and a coach -- learning on the fly.
For the last four years, Iowa had the benefit of an all-time closer in Caitlin Clark, an offensive wizard with the ability to take -- and make -- any shot she wanted or draw a foul in the biggest moments. Iowa also had a head coach with a deep reserve of experience in Lisa Bluder, who could call upon those years of experience to try to find the right play in those key moments.
This Iowa team has no Clark and no Bluder; the Hawkeyes don't have a go-to superstar to try and close out games and Jan Jensen is still feeling her way through late-game situations. She acknowledged as much after the game.
"I don't feel like -- I'm not dismayed by it. I just wish we would have did this a little better, but I think it's just sport," said Jensen. "Last night I felt pretty good about what I called. This one, I'm like, oh, maybe I should have gone a different way in that last 6.8 seconds."
Close losses are always a bitter pill to swallow -- lose a game by a point and it's impossible not to think about what could have gone differently to reverse that result. A made layup here, a better pass there; a three-pointer that rattles in instead of out, a successful box-out and rebound; a whistle blown here, a foul not called there. And so on. Still: while the result stings, it doesn't take away from what this team has accomplished over the last 6+ weeks. Iowa has gone 10-3, with two of the three defeats coming by a combined three points against teams ranked in the top-15 (and the third loss was in overtime).
2. A Defensive Identity
Iowa's team identity during the Caitlin Clark era reflected its high-scoring superstar: an all-gas, no brakes offensive powerhouse. In the first year of the post-Clark era, the team's identity swung back more towards the defensive side of the ball and that increased focus on defense was on full display on Friday night, as Iowa and Ohio State went toe-to-toe for 40 grinding and intense minutes.
The Buckeyes had the second-highest scoring offense in the Big Ten this year, averaging 80.0 ppg. On Friday, Iowa held them to just 60 points. The Hawkeyes limited Ohio State to 36.5% shooting from the floor, including a meager 35.5% on 2-point attempts (as well as 38.9% from beyond the arc). Those shooting numbers dipped to 27.3% from the field in the fourth quarter (though the Buckeyes did drain two of their seven three-pointers in the game in the back-and-forth final quarter).
Iowa forced 14 Ohio State turnovers and turned those giveaways into 12 points. The Hawkeyes had five steals and blocked four shots in the game, with Kylie Feuerbach leading the team in both categories, with two apiece. Feuerbach was maybe the most spectacular individual defender on the night, but Iowa's defensive success was truly a team effort. "I thought we knew our personnel pretty well. I thought our defensive schemes, I think they were always in the moment," said Jansen.
Switching to a zone defense led to a lot of Iowa's success, as Ohio State head coach Kevin McGuff acknowledged. "They played zone defense the first time we played them, and we didn't execute real well against it, and that gave us problems," said McGuff.
"Late in the game we got better shots, but for a while there, we just kind of stood around and didn't move ourselves, didn't move the ball very effectively," added McGuff. "Finally got it right at the end, but Iowa played really great defense tonight."
Defense has been the backbone of Iowa's mid-season turnaround and current 10-3 run -- opponents eclipsed 70 points just twice in that run and one of those two games came in overtime. Locking down opponents created the platform for Iowa's success in the Big Ten Tournament as well, as opponents averaged just 58.3 ppg in Iowa's three tournament games. Maintaining that same defensive ferocity in the NCAA Tournament will be key to Iowa's ability to put together any sort of run in this year's tourney.
3. Shining Stars, Old and New
Five players scored all of Iowa's 59 points, with four players accounting for 88% (52) of Iowa's points in the game. This was not a spread-it-around scoring effort; instead Iowa relied on its best players to carry the load -- and they more or less did.
Lucy Olsen, Hannah Stuelke, and Sydney Affolter led Iowa with 14 points apiece, though all three scored their points at different points in the game. Olsen kept Iowa afloat early in the game, when no one else could manage to get the ball to go through the basket; she had seven points in the first quarter and 12 total in the first half -- nearly half of Iowa's 28 points in the first 20 minutes. Olsen wasn't particularly efficient -- those 12 points came on 5-of-15 shooting -- but Iowa just needed someone to make shots and Olsen was one of the few who could in the opening half.
In the second half, Olsen had just two points on 1-of-3 shooting, as Ohio State's defense increased its pressure on her and focused on shutting down her scoring. Still, while she scored just two points in the second half, she was still very influential on offense, dishing five assists to get Iowa's offense rolling.
Hannah Stuelke scored six of her 14 points in the second quarter as Iowa roared back into the game, then added six more in the third quarter as Iowa traded blows with Ohio State. Stuelke's sharp cuts and smooth finishes around the basket helped pace Iowa's offense in the middle of the game. She was also a force on the glass, hauling down 12 rebounds for her team-high seventh double-double of the season (and 11th of her Iowa career).
Meanwhile, Sydney Affolter scored nine of her 14 points in the second half -- with six of those nine coming in the fourth quarter on back-to-back made three-pointers. Affolter's huge made triples took Iowa from a 58-53 deficit to a 59-58 lead with just over a minute to go. For the game, Affolter was 4-of-5 from beyond the arc and made over half of Iowa's three-pointers (7) for the entire game.
Olsen, Stuelke, and Affolter are familiar stars for Iowa, players who've produced at a high level several times this season (and in the past). But Friday night also saw the emergence of a newer star, as Ava Heiden followed up her breakthrough 11-point effort against Michigan State last night with a 10-point showing against the Buckeyes.
"Ava's been coming, right? In my opinion, in my coaching career, whatever chair I sit on, the timing of when you kind of unleash can make all the difference," said Jensen after the game. "I think Ava's done a lot, and she's showed she's ready for the moments."
She certainly has done that; 21 points over two games on 8-of-10 shooting is a head-turning performance. Heiden's skills were on full display in both games -- her deft touch around the rim, her crisp footwork in the post, her dazzling speed and finishing ability in transition. She's made an extremely compelling case, both for more minutes in however many games Iowa still has left in this season -- and especially for what she can offer in upcoming seasons as she continues to unlock her considerable abilities.
NEXT: For the first time since the 2019-20 Big Ten Tournament, Iowa won't be playing on the weekend. Iowa had played in the last four Big Ten Tournament finals, winning the last three. Now Iowa will wait to see what seed they receive in the 2025 NCAA Tournament -- and where they'll be headed to play a first round game. The 2025 NCAA Tournament Selection Show is scheduled for Sunday, March 16 at 7 PM CT and will be televised by ESPN.
