MADISON — Star guard Caitlin Clark scored 28 points as the fourth-ranked Iowa Hawkeyes overwhelmed host Wisconsin, 87-65, at a sold-out Kohl Center in Madison, Wisconsin, in the Hawkeyes' Big Ten opener. Iowa is now 10-1 (1-0 B1G) on the season.
Hannah Stuelke added 21 points off the bench as she works her way back from a minor leg injury, and Sydney Affolter was another difference-maker off the bench with seven points, 12 rebounds and four assists.
"This conference is so hard," head coach Lisa Bluder said after the game. "Any time you get on the road, you gotta love it if you get a victory and walk out of there."
THE DEEP THREE
1. Ice Kohl. In a first half more reminiscent of the men's trips northeast, Iowa battled through physical play and dismal perimeter shooting in the first half — Iowa missed its first eight attempts from deep, and Caitlin Clark didn't hit her first three until the last shot of the first half, a catch-and-shoot bomb as the shot clock expired.
Coming off a 9-for-31 three-point shooting performance at Hilton Coliseum on Wednesday, Iowa found itself at just 12-for-45 from deep in its last six quarters at the half on Sunday: a 27% rate, which any opponent would be thrilled to inflict on the Hawkeyes.
"Offensively, I always feel like [shooting] is contagious," Bluder said. "Man, somebody misses, and it's like everybody starts doubting themselves. And if somebody comes out and makes them, like in the second half, it's totally different. Maybe we got better shot looks, I've got to watch the film to see, but I think sometimes it's momentum. I think it was just a confidence issue more than anything."
True enough — and perhaps ignited by Clark's half-ending trey — the Hawkeyes would ignite from behind the arc in the second half.
Clark made all three of her second-half treys as Iowa shot 6-for-8 from deep, blowing open what had been a very competitive game. Maybe it was something with the rims; after halftime, Wisconsin shot just 1-for-12 for three, shooting at the same basket that flummoxed Iowa early.
All told, Iowa finished the game shooting 9-for-22 from behind the arc, a downright dangerous 41%. That includes makes on eight of their last 10 attempts.
Further, one of the easiest ways to get a team out of its funk on jumpers is to focus on attacking other areas of the game, and that's Affolter's specialty; she put together another unicorn stat line with seven points, 12 rebounds and four assists in 23 minutes of action.
"She plays great defense, she's on the floor, hustle balls, all the time," Bluder said. "That's why her plus-minus is the highest of anybody on our team. I mean, a +38 when you win by 22 is extraordinary."
2. Hannah Stuelke is back — mostly. Sophomore forward Hannah Stuelke continued her return from a leg injury, keying an Iowa surge in the first quarter after the Badgers got off to a fast start, in particular targeting center Sharon Goodman on both ends of the court. Stuelke's 21 points were a career high in conference play.
"It was really good to be back to myself today," Stuelke said. "I was a little bit down, and Coach [Bluder] helped me a lot getting back to myself, which is really helpful; I love her for that."
Goodman would finish with just seven minutes of play, though she logged four points and three rebounds in that time. She also had two turnovers and two fouls, so the Wisconsin gameplan was clearly targeting Iowa's fourth-year junior center.
Stuelke is the straw that stirs the drink for Iowa's attack, though, and her activity on the interior (six fouls drawn, none committed) helped put the Badgers' star center Serah Williams in foul trouble early — a welcome development, as Williams had 11 points in her first seven minutes of play before picking up her third foul (defending Stuelke, appropriately).
"Drawing fouls is really important," Stuelke said. "It got her out of the game for more minutes than she should be out. She's an amazing player."
Williams would play just 17 minutes, with most coming in the fourth quarter after the game was effectively over; she finished with 15 points and eight rebounds in her limited action.
"Obviously, Serah Williams is a huge part of what we do, and when she's in foul trouble, it changes the complexion of our team," Wisconsin head coach Marisa Moseley said afterward. "If you don't have Williams out, potentially the game looks different."
Bluder mentioned after the game that Stuelke was no longer on a minutes restriction, so the trust seems unconditional. Stuelke did miss three of her first four free throws and had three shots blocked in an 8-for-16 performance, though, so she left some points on the court; today it hardly mattered, especially with the havoc she caused for the Badgers.
3. Maybe it's time to stop stat-hunting. With 2:26 left in the game and Iowa up by 23 points, Bluder brought Clark back in the game; Clark was notably one rebound away from a double-double.
Clark almost got that double-double, with Kylie Feuerbach (correctly) getting credit for a rebound that Clark was there for as well. On the ensuing possession, Clark took a hard foul, staying on the floor an additional few seconds before subbing out of the game for good.
After the game, Bluder talked about her thought process bringing Clark back with the game out of reach.
"She sat there for a long time," Bluder said. "Did I have to put her in? No. But yeah, I decided to put her back in, not much more to it than that."
Of note: Clark had left the game at the last media timeout of the game, at 4:11 left, so she had only missed 1:45 of court time. And Feuerbach sure looked like she tried to get that rebound in Clark's hands.
Bluder also mentioned* that Clark had been feeling under the weather, as Iowa's star guard wasn't present at the postgame conference; with Clark evidently at less than 100%, the decision to bring Clark back in merited additional scrutiny, even as there doesn't appear to be any lasting consequence to her health.
For the record, the sequence appeared to give Bluder some reason to revisit her substitution patterns going forward.
"You never want anybody to get hurt," said Bluder. "She gets beat up constantly. And it's so hard mentally to take that, and she does. Night in and night out, and I feel for her. When we have a lead, yeah, I need to be more cognizant of that."
*The WNBA Draft Lottery was happening simultaneously, so Clark might have just been more interested in that than participating in the news conference; she didn't look or play unwell.
Iowa faces Cleveland State at the Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines, Iowa, on Saturday, December 16. That game will tip off at 6 pm CT. BTN will have TV coverage.
