ALBANY, N.Y. — Colorado women’s basketball hasn’t allowed an opponent to score 90 points all season.
On Saturday, the Buffaloes will face an Iowa team that leads the nation with 92 points per contest and has reached the 90-point threshold 25 times this season, excluding exhibition games.
For the Buffaloes to advance to their first Elite Eight since 2002, they are emphasizing physicality and winning in the paint against the Hawkeyes. Kindyll Wetta, one of Colorado’s top defenders, said on Friday the key to guarding Caitlin Clark isn’t about stopping her from scoring completely but instead “making her touches hard and making her work for everything she’s going to get.”
Colorado is coming off a strong defensive performance against Kansas State, where the Buffaloes allowed just 50 points and a 26.3 percent shooting clip from behind the arc. When Iowa played Kansas State twice in the regular season, the Hawkeyes lost the first contest 65-58 — Iowa’s lowest point total of the season — but won the second game 77-70.
“I think that we’re a really good defensive team … I think you could see in the K-State game that our defense can win games. So yeah, that’s the mentality we’re going in with, and hopefully, we’ll be able to control the physical aspect,” Colorado guard Frida Formann said at media availability on Friday. “We don’t want to get in foul trouble, but obviously with a good player like Caitlin Clark, you have to be some sort of physical with her, but just try to be smart about it.”
After beating the Wildcats, Colorado watched Iowa play West Virginia in the Round of 32. The Mountaineers hindered the Hawkeyes’ fast-paced offense and held them to an unusual 64 points. While Formann said Colorado doesn’t have the same personnel as West Virginia, she and her teammates also hope to frustrate Clark and Co.
“We’re looking at every game that Iowa has played and trying to take bits and pieces — maybe this is something that could be effective, maybe that’s something that could be disruptive in some way,” Colorado head coach JR Payne said Friday. “So certainly watched that [West Virginia] game and most of them to be honest.”
When Iowa and Colorado matched up in the Sweet 16 last year, the Hawkeyes won 87-77 but gave up 22 rebounds on the offensive glass. Colorado has even more confidence down low this season, as the Buffaloes have improved their defensive rebounding and now rank 11th in the nation in defensive rebounding percentage.
Iowa head coach Lisa Bluder said for the Hawkeyes to come out victorious on Saturday, they must rebound better than in last year’s Sweet 16.
“Rebounding is always a big priority for us,” Payne said. “We try to make sure in practices — we don’t do a lot of rebounding drills per se, but we try to make sure that we finish plays. Even if it’s an offensive segment, make sure we finish the play with a defensive rebound.”
With the departure of post Monika Czinano, who had 15 points and seven boards against the Buffaloes last season, Iowa turns its attention to forward Hannah Stuelke.
The second-year stands at 6-foot-2 and is averaging 14.1 points and 6.7 rebounds per game while shooting 63.5 percent from the field. Stuelke will go head-to-head with Aaronette Vonleh, a 6-foot-3 transfer from Arizona who averages 14 points and 5.2 boards per game. Stuelke played for 1:30 against Colorado last year and committed two turnovers.
Bluder said after the West Virginia game that she wants Stuelke to be more aggressive, and she doesn’t believe the young athlete has grown into her full potential yet. Stuelke scored 12 points and recorded a season-high four blocks against the Mountaineers. When Iowa played Holy Cross in the first round, Stuelke only played 10:10 because of a migraine.
For Bluder, it’s all about building players’ confidence. She said encouragement can mean more to a player if it’s coming from a teammate rather than a coach. Bluder complimented Clark and the rest of the Hawkeye squad for believing in Steulke and always reminding the second-year post of the trust they have in her.
Joining Stuelke in Iowa’s post unit are Addison O’Grady, Sharon Goodman, and AJ Ediger. Goodman leads the trio with 4.6 points and three boards per game. O’Grady is right behind with 4.2 points and 1.9 rebounds per game, while Ediger has played the fewest minutes of the three and is averaging 1.9 points and 1.3 boards per contest.
“We’ve all seen what Hannah can do … She can absolutely dominate. In my opinion, she runs the floor better than anybody in the country,” Clark said. “I think that’s been the thing for us all year, is just continue to build [Stuelke] up, continue to build our posts up because they kind of had to play in the shadow of Monika. But they aren’t Monika. They can do a lot of things that Monika couldn’t. They don’t need to be Monika.”
