No. 6 Iowa 95, Penn State 51

Teams usually have one of two reactions to getting blown out in a first matchup, then playing that team again. Some teams circle that second game on their calendar. They make big gameplan changes and give the other team their best game, trying to prove the first blowout was a fluke.

Other teams don’t do anything special. They don’t get up for the second game, and usually a second blowout follows.

Would Penn State give Iowa a better game than it did the first time, or would Iowa cruise to another blowout win?

The opening few minutes of the game were chaotic. Both teams pushed tempo, but they also turned the ball over and missed easy shots. Iowa held a narrow 9-7 lead at the under-5 timeout, but it didn’t seem very comfortable.

The second part of the quarter went much better. Iowa got its offense rolling. On defense, Iowa allowed some initial penetration, but contested most shots and forced a lot of misses. That combination helped Iowa push the lead to 19-7 before a late Penn State basket made the score 19-9 heading to the second quarter.

In the second quarter, Iowa seized control of the game. Iowa’s offense kept rolling, and Penn State kept missing shots on the other end. All told, Iowa led 45-22 at the half. Iowa shot 60% from the floor in the first half. Penn State shot 22%. Iowa also had an incredible 29 rebounds at halftime.

Iowa quickly pushed its lead to 30 in the third quarter, then went into coast mode, getting the bench more involved. Iowa continued to build its lead anyway, and a Taylor McCabe three at the buzzer pushed it to 77-40 heading to the fourth quarter. Iowa rolled on in the final quarter, and won 95-51.

Caitlin Clark led Iowa with 23 points, 14 assists, and 10 rebounds. She recorded her third triple-double of the season and the ninth of her career. Everyone associates Clark with logo threes, but when she goes into facilitator mode late in games like this, it’s a thing of beauty, too. Monika Czinano scored 14 points on 7/10 shooting. Kate Martin was the final Hawkeye in double-figures with 11 points and 8 assists.

Iowa also had great contributions up and down the lineup today. McCabe made a couple big threes. Hannah Stuelke had 9 points and 8 rebounds. McKenna Warnock had 9 points and 5 rebounds in 18 minutes. Addison O’Grady and AJ Ediger had a couple baskets each. A box score for the game is here.

Thursday, February 9: at #4 Indiana—5:30pm- Big Ten Network
Sunday, February 12: vs. Rutgers—2:00pm- Fox Sports 1
Wednesday, February: 15 vs. Wisconsin—6:31pm—Big Ten Plus ($)
Saturday, February 18: at Nebraska—1:00pm—Big Ten Network
Tuesday, February 21: at #8 Maryland—7:00pm—Big Ten Network
Sunday, February 26: vs. #4 Indiana—1:00pm—ESPN

When looking at what Iowa has left, the three games against Indiana and Maryland obviously stand out. The game at Indiana will probably be Iowa’s toughest game of the season. Playing Indiana at home won’t be much easier. And I feel very confident that Maryland will give Iowa a much tougher game at Maryland.

The game at Nebraska is also sneaky. Iowa is clearly the better team, but Nebraska dominated Iowa in the fourth quarter last week, and Nebraska will feel confident it can pull the upset at home.

Finally, Iowa will be a heavy favorite against Rutgers and Wisconsin. That doesn’t mean a win is guaranteed. No game in the Big Ten is automatic. But either team beating Iowa at home would be the upset of the year.

If Iowa goes 5-1 against that schedule, the Hawks will earn a share of the Big Ten regular season title at a minimum. 4-2 would give them a decent chance for a share as long as one of those wins is over Indiana. 3-3 or worse, and Iowa almost certainly will not win the conference.

I don’t think 6-0 in the remaining schedule is particularly realistic, but if Iowa were to pull it off, a #1 seed in the NCAA Tournament would definitely be in play.