Any other night with just one free throw attempt and one single-digit loss is a certain loss. But on Wednesday, it earned the Iowa women’s basketball team an extra day in Indianapolis.
The No. 11 Hawkeyes didn’t miss a beat from jump ball to the final buzzer, putting on a clinic in every fashion in the 81-54 victory over No. 14 Wisconsin in the qualifying round of the Big Ten Tournament. They’re set to take on No. 6 Michigan State on Thursday.
“I’d love it to be another one tomorrow night, but I’m sure glad they got this one tonight,” head coach Jan Jensen said with a grin and head nod.
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It was an odd victory from a scoring standpoint. Besides Lucy Olsen’s 19 points, no other Hawkeye scored in double digits, yet the squad reached 81 points on 57-percent shooting. To add onto that, they only shot one free throw, coming off a Sydney Affolter and-one opportunity late in the first quarter — which she missed.
The collective scoring effort provided great belief in the Hawkeyes’ offensive production as a unit. But in typical Jensen fashion, she views it as a preview for what’s to come right now and in the long run.
“That just gives me so much hope for the future of the rest of the tournament, into the postseason, and into next season,” she said. “You see the maturity happening — just really hopeful that it’s coming together.
“I think we can be dangerous,” she added. “We just have to stay level-headed. The steadiness of this team, if they can just continue to do what [they] need to do … Every single one of them made a difference tonight.”
Olsen was on a heater as she’s been the last half of the season. Her 19-point outing came on 8-of-12 shooting and 3-of-4 from deep with her first made three having eclipsed 2,000 career points.
“I’m just happy to be playing basketball still, and I wouldn’t be doing it without these great teammates,” Olsen said.
Affolter, Taylor McCabe, and Kylie Feuerbach all came one point shy of the double-digit mark but each contributed in their own ways. McCabe matched Olsen with three made shots from beyond the arc, Affolter lived up to her “big dawg” status with a team-leading seven rebounds, and Feuerbach led the Hawkeyes with six dimes.
And at one point, with Iowa up nearly 30 points toward the end of the third quarter, Jensen did something she hadn’t done all season — putting out an all-freshman lineup. Taylor Stremlow, Aaliyah Guyton, Callie Levin, Teagan Mallegni, and Ava Heiden graced the floor together for the first time, and it came on a bigger stage than expected. In her mind, why not?
“They’ve been working so hard, and I thought it was a nice opportunity because we were able to do it,” she explained. “They are the future, right? It’s important to reward them but to give them a little taste of what it could be like if they’re paying attention to the lessons that [the veterans] are teaching. I think this class is going to be just fine.”
Nobody knows this stage better than Affolter, who’s been there throughout the two national championship runs alongside Caitlin Clark, Kate Martin, and Lisa Bluder. She knows what a good basketball team looks like.
From the young pups to the veterans, she doesn’t lack any confidence with this current squad. Needless to say there’s a chip on Iowa’s shoulder.
“Just coming out with that confidence, knowing that we are one of the top teams here, and we want to be here for as long as possible,” she said. “And to make our mark known on the first day, I thought we did great. That’s definitely a confidence-builder going into the rest of the tournament.”