NORMAN, Okla. – The sixth-seeded Iowa women’s basketball team will have to play it’s most defensive game yet as the Hawkeyes take on 11th-seeded Murray State in the first round of the NCAA tournament Saturday. As the highest-scoring offense in the nation, the Racers currently average 87.8 points per game.
“We’ve worked a lot on our transition defense,” fourth-year forward Sydney Affolter said in her Friday press conference. “They like to push the ball and get one to two shots with their shooters, so just containing them in transition is going to be really important.”
Alongside fourth-year Kylie Feuerbach, Affolter leads Iowa with 1.3 steals per game. The also averages 7.7 rebounds per game, second only to third-year Hannah Stuelke.
“We know how good our defense is,” Affolter said. “It’ll be a fun, fast-paced game, so we’re excited.”
With both Affolter and Feuerbach, who recently announced her intent to return for a fifth season, working hard to nab steals and force turnovers, a lot of hustle will be needed on the rebounding end as well.
Stuelke, currently averaging 7.9 rebounds per game, also averages 12.8 points and 2.2 assists. The third-year nabbed double-doubles in her last two games of the Big Ten tournament, including a 14-point performance in the Hawkeyes’ 60-59 loss to Ohio State in the quarterfinals.
Stuelke noted the importance of defense, especially with Murray State fifth-year Katelyn Young tallying over 3,000 career points. The 6-foot-1 guard had averaged at least 20 points per season in three of her five campaigns and tops the Racers with 22.2 per game in 2024-25.
“It’s going to have a huge role,” Stuelke said. “Their leading scorer is my current assignment for the game. I’m going to do my best to contain her, be on her, applying pressure. Limiting second chance points is really good, limiting shots is good as well.”
New head coach Jan Jensen has spearheaded their approach in the offseason. Jensen served as a post coach under Lisa Bluder, training players like Stuelke, fourth-year Addison O’Grady, and first-year Ava Heiden.
Despite a five-game conference losing streak midway through the season, Iowa’s later success in the Big Ten qualified it to face Murray State in the NCAA tournament, the first time the two teams have met. As outright champions of the Missouri Valley Conference, Murray State bested fellow Iowa teams Drake and UNI this season, the former of which Jensen played and coached for early in her career.
Jensen admired Murray State’s hustle as a team and the grit of their program.
“Their story, I think, is really cool,” Jensen said. “Every time I’ve seen their staff on the road, they’re just hardworking, quality people. It seems like they’re at a great trajectory in their program. They’re a hard guard, but in a really fun way.”
Jensen also noted the importance of defense in getting stops against a fast-paced team.
“I think both of us like to go fast,” Jensen said. “We’re probably going to try to minimize each other. I think defense will be key. I think shot selection will be key; I think that’s true for both teams. If you’re not hitting shots and you can’t get the discipline for shot selections, then I think that’s where the story will lie, and I think defense will dictate that.”
The Hawkeyes and Racers will tip off at 11 a.m. Central Time on Saturday, March 22 on ESPN. The victor will play the winner of third-seeded Oklahoma and 14th-seeded FGCU.