Hawkeye women seek Big Ten crown with big numbers
The Hawkeye women lead the conference in field-goal shooting, assists, and free throws. Their numbers could help the team bring home a conference championship.
Iowa center Megan Gustafson drives to the basket during the Iowa/Illinois women’s basketball game at Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Thursday, February 14, 2019. The Hawkeyes defeated the Fighting Illini, 88-66.
March 6, 2019
When the regular season’s final buzzer sounded for the Hawkeye women, the team simultaneously took down Northwestern and locked up a No. 2 seed in the Big Ten Tournament.
The team didn’t accomplish its goal of securing a regular-season conference championship, but it is playing some of its best basketball of the season right now.
Iowa is a clear threat to cut down the net in Indianapolis this weekend because of the way it stacks up against the rest of the conference. Several stats show why Iowa might come home with a Big Ten title.
Iowa has shot better than 60 percent from the field in six games this season
The Hawkeyes are steady from the field. The win over Northwestern marked the sixth time this season the team has converted more than 60 percent of its shots from the floor.
Even more impressive, the Hawkeyes haven’t shot under 40 percent in a single contest this season. For this reason, the team is leading the country in field-goal percentage on the season, converting an average of 52 percent of its shots per game.
It’s not just center Megan Gustafson — who leads the country in field-goal percentage — who shoots consistently. In the win over Northwestern, five of the seven players who scored in the game made at least half of their field-goal attempts. Forward Hannah Stewart is fourth in the conference in field-goal percentage, averaging 57 percent.
Maryland — the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament — is the closest to matching Iowa’s high marks. But the Terps have posted a 46 percent field-goal average, a distant second to Iowa’s. In the Hawkeyes’ win over Maryland on Feb. 17, both teams shot well: Maryland 41 percent, and Iowa 47. A potential rematch between the two is sure to be just as entertaining as the first.
The Hawkeyes lead the conference in free-throw shooting
Iowa shoots 76.7 percent from the line on the season, enough to put the team in the 1-spot in the conference and No. 16 nationally.
A team that can convert free-throws down the stretch is a championship contender. Iowa took down Maryland and Rutgers — first and third in the Big Ten, respectively — in games that were both decided by fewer than 10 points.
This is the second-straight year the program has led the conference in free-throw percentage, so it’s clearly a focal point of head coach Lisa Bluder’s strategy. However, for this to be an asset in March, the team will need to work on getting to the line in the first place: The Hawkeyes are in the bottom third of the conference in free-throw attempts.
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Iowa averages 22 assists per game
The Hawkeyes know how to share the ball. The team is second in the nation in assists per game with 22, trailing only No. 1 Baylor. The Hawkeyes lead the Big Ten in assists per game by a large margin; Michigan State is a distant second, averaging 18.2.
The team can share the ball, and this has been a consistent fact for the past several years. The Hawkeyes do this with intent and precision; the team also ranks first in the conference in assist-to-turnover ratio.
The charge has been spearheaded by the team’s guards — Kathleen Doyle and Tania Davis rank first and sixth, respectively, in individual assists per game.
The team won’t be on its home court, where it has been unbeatable this season, but with the stats Iowa put up compared with those of the rest of the conference, the weekend in Indianapolis could be a special one.
