UConn vs Iowa
Day: Saturday
Date: March 27th, 2021
Time: 1:00
Location: San Antonio, Texas
TV: ABC
1 Seed UConn 5 Seed Iowa
26-1 18-9
Prior Meetings
UCONN LEADS 4-3
H: 4-1 | A: 1-1 | N: 0-1
12/30/83 Iowa 78, UConn 43 Coral Gables, Fla.
11/26/89 #11 Iowa 81, UConn 49 Iowa City, Iowa
11/29/90 #11 Iowa 58, #23 UConn 41 Storrs, Conn.
03/17/97 #1 UConn 72, Iowa 53 Storrs, Conn.
11/25/97 #3 UConn 65, #20 Iowa 55 Storrs, Conn.
11/21/99 #1 UConn 73, Iowa 45 Iowa City, Iowa
03/18/02 #1 UConn 86, Iowa 48 Storrs, Conn.
Iowa Overview
(game scores are clickable for more detail)
Iowa has had an up and down and up season. For the first eight game they went 7-1 losing to Michigan State 86-82. They beat a good Rutgers team 90-84. Over the next eight games they were 3-5 losing to all 5 ranked teams that they met. Northwestern twice 77-67 and 87-80, Ohio State twice 84-82 in overtime and 92-87, and Indiana 85-72. Their wins were against the bottom of the Big Ten conference. Including the NCAA tournament games they have gone 10-3 over their last thirteen games. But once again they struggled against the better teams losing three of four game against ranked teams, beating only Rutgers again 73-62. They lost to Maryland 111-93, Indiana 89-80 and Maryland for the third time 104-84.
Overall they are 20-9 on the season. Not bad. But as I posted above, they really struggled against the better teams. They were 1-8 against teams that were ranked at the time they played them, only beating Rutgers.
Comparative Team Statistics
Leader in bold
UConn Iowa
82.8 PPG 86.6
50.7 Defensive PPG 80.5
32.1 Scoring Margin 6.1
52.0 Field Goal % 52.0
32.9 Defensive FG% 45.0
34.7 Three Point % 40.0
26.3 Defensive 3PT% 34,0
72.0 Free Throw % 79.0
41.9 Rebounds/game 35.8
12.0 Rebounding Margin 0.5
20.9 Assists per game 20.5
14.3 Turnover per game 14.6
1.5 Assists/TO ratio 1.4
10.0 Steals per game 6.9
5.7 Blocks per game 2.7
UCONN
The player and coaches names for both teams
are clickable to see their Bios
UConn Starters
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IOWA
Iowa Starters
Iowa Bench
Well, here we are again! I'm so looking forward to this game. I love offense and we will see plenty of it in this game.
Let's talk about Iowa first.
The Hawkeyes are led by their All-World freshman Caitlin Clark. What does she do? The question should be what doesn't she do. The biggest compliment I can give her is if you switched her with Paige Bueckers, UConn would pretty much be in the same position as they are now. She is that good. She leads the country in scoring at 26.7 PPG and she average 2nd best in the country in assists at 7.2 per game. A complete offensive player. She can shoot from NBA range and often does and hits her three pointers at 41%. She has a fantastic handle and as you can see by her assist numbers, has great court vision. If you haven't seen her, you are in for a treat. She does have a couple of weaknesses. She sometimes tries to do too much and because of that she averages 4.8 turnovers per game. And her defense is just ok.
6'3" Junior Monika Czinano is their big post presence, and I mean big. But don't be fooled by her build. She does a good job running the floor. What I like about her is her ability to catch the ball in the post and seal her defender off and finish with either hand. She averaged 19.6 PPG but interestingly, only 5.9 RPG. You'd think she would grab more. That is probably because she really can't get off the ground very well. Her most impresive number is her field goal percentage. She is shooting at 67.2% from the field. Just below her free throw percentage of 68%. She seems to have a great thing going in working with Clark. She sets great screens and either Clark is using that screen to get an open shot or Czinano rols to the hoop for an easy baasket. Kind of like Bueckers and Nelson-Ododo/Edwards.
6'1" sophomore McKenna Wornock is the only other double digit scorer on the team averaging 11.8 PPG. She is similar to a player that UConn just played against, Emily Engstler, who is a good rebounding guard/forward. I really like her game. She is a dangerous three point shooter making them at a 43% rate. She also has a terrific assist/to ratio of 1.6. Just a really good all around player. And will be a difference maker in this game.
Gabbie Marshall, a 5'9" sophomore guard is the best three point shooter in the team by shooting percentage at 45.1%. She takes care of the ball but doesn't have a ton of assists. She has a 1.77 assists/to ratio. A smallish guard, she will really struggle to defend whoever she is assigned to on the Huskies.
6' sophomore guard Kate Martin is a real emotional leader on this team. She is a great hustle player. Martin is also second on the team in assists and has a superior assists/turnover ratio of 2.53 on 4.1 assists per game. She does a great job finding both Clark for an open shot and Czinano in the post.
If bench bench sees much more minutes than giving the starting five a blow, Iowa is in real trouble. 5'10" junior guard Toni Taiwo, 6'3" freshman center Sharon Goodman and 5'8" sophomore guard Megan Meyer are serviceable players but only Taiwo will hit a couple of shots and maybe even a three.
Defensively, I saw Iowa play a mix of man to man and zone. The zone looked like a 2-1-2, however they could mix it up. The players do a lot of switching. But realistically, they are just not a very good defensive team. They give up ON AVERAGE 80+ points per game. They gave up 100+ three times to Maryland. They are not a good rebounding team so I expect the Huskies to dominate the paint.
UConn is going to play their game. They will swing the ball looking for an open opportunity. The Huskies will take advantage of their mismatches. And that would be Edwards being covered by anyone on the Iowa team. She is just a nightmare for the Hawkeyes. And as much of a difficult player that Czinano is for Nelson-Ododa, Olivia will bring her away from the basket leaving the paint open for cutters and for UConn guards/wings to dribble drive to the basket.
Because of the rebounding advantage, I would look for UConn to rebound and run at every opportunity. Can Iowa get back on defense quickly enough to slow them down?
Hey, did I mention Bueckers? As much as a tough match up for anyone that Clark is, Paige is just as difficult. She will look to set up her teammates but not hesitate to take open shots. And her drive to the right and pull up jumper will be something she will look to do several times.
Defensively, UConn is clearly a step above most teams. They will put either Williams or Westbrook on Clark trying to deny her the ball. And no one plays help and then retreat defense like the Huskies. I'm sure they will trot out their zone. They have been playing a lot of that lately. If Clark is carving it up, UConn will switch back and forth from zone to man-to-man.
Final Prediction
I like Iowa. I like their players, I like how they play, I just like them. I also like them to lose this game. UConn just has too much for the Hawkeyes on both the offensive and defensive side. Could this turn into an Arkansas type game? It's possible but not probable. And UConn is really meshing offensively. If Iowa hits their 86 point average, UConn will still win by 10-15.
I like the Huskies by that 15+ point margin.
Excellent commentary. Should be worth the hype. Bluder is an elite Coach that doesn't get the National Press she deserves. But as you point out in the blog, Iowa is a poor defender, and Geno will make Clark earn every point she gets and Iowa will not be able to keep UConn from scoring enough points to comfortably win (20+).
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