The week ahead in women's hoops
After a two week break, the Iowa Women’s Basketball team will be back on the court, as they look to put their Covid pause behind them and focus on staying undefeated. They unfortunately had to cancel three games, including in-state rival Drake and a trip to Cancun to face a couple of NCAA Tournament bubble caliber teams, but as they return, the road gets much tougher.
The Hawkeyes will face two tournament caliber teams this week, before the big in-state battle vs the top 15 ranked Cyclones in Ames next Wednesday.
Previewing the Duke Blue Devils (Thursday, December 2nd)
The Blue Devils enter the game with a 6-0 record, with a notable win over Alabama (74-71) in the Maggie Dixon Classic, but they have yet to see a player like Caitlin Clark and a team with the talent of the Hawkeyes.
Clark shared her thoughts on getting to play at the storied Cameron Indoor Stadium saying, “I grew up a huge North Carolina men’s basketball fan because of Harrison Barnes, so I used to watch the Duke North Carolina games religiously…I never would have thought I would be playing in Cameron. Obviously, a super cool opportunity.”
Monika Czinano shared the same thoughts saying, “I remember having a lot of basketball tournaments in Raleigh growing up and we would always make the drive over to Durham and go check out the gym…I was just talking to my mom about it. How cool it is now to flash forward so many years and now I’m going to go play there.”
Duke, unfortunately, catches Iowa at the best time possible, as they haven’t played a game in two weeks, so they figure to spend the first 5-10 minutes of the game knocking the rust off. Also of note, the Hawkeyes will be making their first trip out of the state for a true road game with fans since March of 2020….almost 650 days ago.
“Really good three point shooting team. To me that’s a real big key. They are very good in transition offense…Those are really my main concerns right now. Transition defense and 3pt defense,” Bluder said.
The Blue Devils are led by a trio of transfers in their starting lineup, starting with Texas transfer Celeste Taylor, who leads the team in scoring with 15.0 ppg, as well as 6.7 rebounds and 17 steals in six games. Texas Tech transfer Lexi Gordon and Shayeann Day-Wilson are both shooting over 43% from behind the 3pt line and combine to average 5.1 3pt makes per game.
Louisville transfer Elizabeth Balogun averages 7.7 ppg, while Vanessa de Jesus distributes the ball for 4.4 assists per game. The big challenge will be Monika Czinano, as well as Logan Cook and Addison O’Grady going up against Duke’s 6’5 center Jade Williams.
“…they have good height. Their center is 6’5 (Jade Williams) and their backup is 6’3” (Onome Akinbode-James). They have height that we have not seen yet.”
The Hawkeyes are facing a tough road test off of a two-week Covid break, so how the team comes out of the gates could determine the outcome in this Big Ten/ACC Challenge matchup.
Previewing the Michigan State Spartans (Sunday, December 5th)
The Spartans received votes in the preseason AP Poll, but have dropped a couple of games vs St Francis Brooklyn and Fordham. However, this will be the Big Ten opener so there will be a lot of focus by both teams trying to get off to a good start in conference play.
“Only having that one Big Ten game (before Christmas). I think it’s really important going into that three week stretch (between Big Ten games), that you go in on a positive note and that you take care of home court advantage …I think this first game against Michigan State is really important for us,” said Coach Bluder on the Big Ten opener.
Junior guard Nia Clouden has been impressive for the Spartans, averaging 19.5 ppg and 5.5 assists per game, while shooting 47.1% from behind the 3pt line. Alyza Winston (13.1 ppg) and Matilda Ekh (10.4 ppg) both average in double figures and will be in the starting lineup for MSU.
Purdue transfer Tamara Farquhar leads the team in rebounding with 5.8 boards per game. However, MSU spreads their rebounding out with six players averaging 3+ rebounds a game, which is much like how the Hawkeyes go about their rebounding efforts. Off the bench, DeeDee Hagemann will be a contributor for the Spartans, averaging 8.6 pts and 4.7 assists per game.