The 12-1 overall No. 4 Iowa women’s basketball team will resume Big Ten play as the Minnesota Golden Gophers come to Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City on Saturday.
The Hawkeyes are coming off of a 98-69 home win over Loyola-Chicago on Dec. 21 — a win that boasted a wider scoring effort crucial to their success this season with 35 points from Caitlin Clark as well as 20 from forward Hannah Stuelke, 19 from guard Kate Martin, and 10 from guard Sydney Affolter.
That win marked their final non-conference contest of the regular season, the Hawkeyes now returning to Big Ten action with Minnesota after kicking off conference play in Madison, Wisconsin, on Dec. 10. There, the Hawkeyes snagged an 87-65 win over the Wisconsin Badgers with 28 from Clark and 21 from Stuelke.
But the Black and Gold will face a bigger test this weekend as the Golden Gophers come to town.
The Gophers are unranked but are receiving votes in the AP Poll as they are on an eight-game win streak and are 11-1 overall — their only loss coming to now-No. 15 UConn, 62-44, on Nov. 19 — as they boast wins over Drake, Kentucky, and Purdue.
Minnesota is fortified on both ends of the floor, averaging 80.2 points per game while holding its opponents to an average of just 54.5 points per game.
And the Golden Gophers are averaging 21.2 points off of turnovers per game. As the Hawkeyes have given up 36 turnovers over their last two contests, protecting and valuing the ball will be a big key to the Black and Gold’s success in limiting Minnesota’s scoring.
Second-year guard Mara Braun is the Golden Gophers’ biggest weapon this season, averaging a solid 20.3 points per game on 45 percent from the field, 41 percent from deep, and 94 percent from the free throw line.
That’s all in addition to her 39 assists and 21 steals so far this season, so the 2022-23 Big Ten All-Freshman Team honoree will be another target for the Hawkeyes to need to silence to escape with a win and advance to 13-1.
Up next
The Hawkeyes will turn around rather quickly and host the 10-2 overall Michigan State Spartans inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Jan. 2.
The Spartans are very well-rounded this season, averaging a whopping 92 points per game and holding opponents to an average of just 63.3. And they are shooting almost 40 percent from three as a team.
Similarly to Minnesota, there is an emphasis on the need for the Hawkeyes to protect the ball on offense as Michigan State is averaging 23.8 points per game off of turnovers and 11 steals per game.
And the Hawkeye defense will need to be both locked in and scrappy because the Spartans’ scoring effort is so widespread with four players averaging double-digits.
Spartans guard Moira Joiner is leading the way in averaging 16.8 points per game on 45 percent from three while guard DeeDee Hagemann is averaging 14.3 points per game on 58 percent from the field and 54 percent from deep.
Supporting them are guards Julia Ayrault and Abbey Kimball, the former averaging 14.1 points per game and amassing 31 blocks this year while the latter is averaging 10.8 points per game.
