Are the Hawkeyes in trouble?
For the first time since the 2015-16 season, the Iowa women’s basketball team has lost four games in a row. The last time this happened, Megan Gustafson was in her first year with the team, Monika Czinano was in high school, and Caitlin Clark was in middle school.
Many loyal fans have struggled to believe that they are seeing a losing skid like this. Iowa has been consistently winning for over a decade, and the losing streak has created a new obstacle for nearly everyone inside the building to face.
“I don’t think we’ve lost two games in a row since we’ve been here,” Fourth-year guard Sydney Affolter said of herself and Hannah Stuelke. “ It’s definitely something we’re learning through, too. But we have to take it game-by-game. We can’t look back on a loss and hang our heads on that.”
It seemed like Iowa was on track to end those losing woes against Nebraska on Thursday. The Hawkeyes held an 11-point lead midway through the fourth quarter, but the Cornhuskers responded with a 10-0 run in just two minutes to get within a possession.
Nebraska’s scoring barrage didn’t help Iowa, but the Hawkeyes will likely point to their poor free-throw shooting as the primary factor for the collapse. Iowa went just 5-of-12 from the line in the fourth quarter – seven crucial points left off the scoreboard.
Instead of a big home victory, the Hawks were forced to tussle it out in overtime, where the Huskers emerged victorious, 87-84.
“I’m really upset with some of our execution,” head coach Jan Jensen said. “We should not have blown the 11-point lead, and I’m very upset about their free throws. But I also know they didn’t try to miss them, so you have to figure out why.”
“I think that’s the mental game,” she added
Jensen, being the optimistic person she is, refuses to let the frustrations boil over her. The tough loss is already past them, and her eyes are now set on what she and the team can do differently moving forward.
“I do believe there was progress,” Jensen said. “I do believe that this team has a lot left in them, and I love our freshmen. Now my trick — I like how the flow was. But now I have three centers, so the minutes when Hannah’s playing as well, that’s where I got to try to figure out.”
The team will spend the next couple of days regrouping before a tough road contest against Oregon on Sunday. Affolter described how it’s “harder to come to practice the next day with the same tenacity and confidence” after a loss like this, let alone four-straight.
However, hope still remains in the air. All four losses came within single digits, signaling that this team has fought hard until the final buzzer in every matchup. The season is far from over, and a few adjustments can certainly save it.
“That was a very backward game,” Affolter said. “All of our losses have been very winnable games, which is the frustrating part. But we’re going out to Oregon and Washington, and we’re gonna battle over there and give our best shot.”