Coming into this season, not many expected guard Sydney Affolter to make the impact she’s had on the Iowa women’s basketball team — even head coach Lisa Bluder.

“I don’t expect Syd to come off the bench and have 15 points,” Bluder said at a January 2023 media availability.

Even though Affolter has yet to reach 15 points this season, the third-year from Chicago has come off the bench and reached the double-digit mark six times so far this season. She has come one point shy of 15 on two different occasions during Iowa’s wins over Bowling Green and Purdue.

“She’s one of those kids that just do their job. It’s just, ‘I’m in the trenches, I’m going to do what we do, [and] that’s kind of rare to get kids with that type of motor,” associate head coach Jan Jensen said. “I think she has Chicago toughness … She’s not going to back down from anybody.”

Affolter has proven to be a reliable scorer coming off the bench this season, averaging 7.4 points and 6.8 rebounds, doubling her numbers in nearly every statistic from last season.

More importantly, Affolter brings an uncompromising, gritty style of play and isn’t afraid to dive headfirst into the crowd for a loose ball or matchup against players sometimes four to five inches taller than her while defending in the post.

“She has that tenacity,” Bluder said at a November 2023 media availability. “It sounds so easy, but it’s not. She has an aggressive mindset, [and] she’s not afraid to be physical and do the dirty work when she has to.”

Affolter is currently third in rebounds per game and second in steals with 1.4 per game, despite only averaging 21 minutes per contest. She said one must have a winner-takes-all, ruthless mentality to be an effective rebounder.

“I don’t think anyone else is going to get [the ball] but me, and I think that helps a lot in rebounding,” Affolter said.

Chicago tough

Sydney Affolter was introduced to basketball early on when her father, Ed Affolter, became a coach for the sport after playing it up to the collegiate level at the University of Illinois Chicago.

Ed Affolter noticed his daughter’s knack for basketball at an early age after seeing one-on-one battles between her and her older brother, Trey Affolter, who also played basketball collegiately at St. Ambrose University.

Having games in the driveway against her brother and his friends growing up made competing against other teams for her St. Christina Elementary School easy — so easy that Affolter led the team to an undefeated run from fourth through eighth grade.

“I always played against the guys, so I think my dad instilled that in me, and my brother definitely didn’t take it easy on me,” Affolter joked.

As a freshman attending Marist High School in Chicago, Affolter made an immediate impact on a powerhouse Redhawks team, finishing with 12.2 points, 6.9 rebounds, and 2.6 steals per game. By the time she ended high school, she had tallied over 1,000 points and 500 rebounds and helped Marist to two regional championship appearances and three straight East Suburban Catholic Conference Championships.

The three-time all-state player had her pick of Division I offers from Big Ten schools such as Nebraska, Minnesota, and Michigan State. However, she chose to sign with Iowa due to loving the atmosphere inside Carver during a 2020 visit when Megan Gustafson’s jersey was retired.

“Since the day they offered me, I really liked it there,” Affolter told The Beverly Review. “[That] game made me fall in love with the place.”

Affolter was already familiar with Iowa after touring the state and country during her junior year of high school with the “All-Iowa Attack’ AAU basketball team based out of Ames.

That team, which featured current Hawkeyes Caitlin Clark, Kylie Feuerbach, and Hannah Stuelke, finished the 2020 season with a perfect 48-0 record and a Nike Elite Youth Basketball League Championship.

Trusting the process

Affolter saw limited action her first year as she backed up guards Clark and upperclassmen Kate Martin and Gabbie Marshall. She instead took the time to adjust to the speed of the college game and the coaching staff’s schemes.

“You come in having left high school where you were the star,” she said. “No one can stop you there. Then in college, you’re at the bottom of the totem pole, so it’s very challenging.”

Affolter’s work ethic in the gym saw her minutes increase in her second year as she improved her field goal percentage from 23.7 to 47.9 and had flashes of good play as one of the first players to come off the bench for an Iowa team that made it to the NCAA Championship. She notched a career-high 14 points and eight rebounds in a loss to No. 7 Maryland on Feb. 21.

For Affolter and the other Iowa guards, their biggest challenge comes before the game when they match up against Clark in practice.

“[Caitlin’s] very competitive. Her energy makes you want to compete for yourself, her, and the team,” Affolter said. “It gets hot, but it’s pretty fun competing against her.”

2023 season

This season has seen Affolter take her game to the next level and become a household name for many Hawkeye fans.

After a strong performance during the team’s European trip, Affolter got straight to work in competing for the valuable sixth spot in Bluder’s lineup. She made a strong case for herself, as she put up an 11-point performance in the season opener against Fairleigh Dickinson and a career-high 14 rebounds against No. 8 Virginia Tech the following game.

Having already showcased her ability to score previously, Affolter said she made it a priority heading into the season to be a factor in the rebounding department after the departure of last season’s leading rebounders, Monika Czinano and McKenna Warnock.

“I knew [rebounding] was going to be important within my role,” she said. “I want to take advantage of that whenever I’m on the court.”