3 Seed UConn Huskies 1 Seed Iowa Hawkeyes 33-5 32-4
Friday, April 5th, 2024
Time: 9:30ish
Cleveland, Ohio
TV: ESPN
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Prior Match ups
IOWA vs UCONN
UCONN LEADS 6-3
H: 3-1 | A: 1-1 | N: 2-1
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.
03/27/21 #1 UConn 92, Iowa 72 San Antonio, Texas
11/27/22 #3 UConn 86, #9 Iowa 79 Portland, Ore.
Iowa Overview
Iowa has had a terrific season with a few bumps in the road.
After winning their first three games including a game against then No. 8 Virginia Tech 80-76 they ripped off 15 straight games to start the season 18-1 and 7-0 in the Big Ten. In that run they beat then 14th ranked Indiana 84-57. Two games later they lost to then 18th ranked Ohio State 100-92 in overtime. That was a fun game to watch.
They easily won their next five games against weaker Big Ten competition before their next loss, to unranked Nebraska 82-79. Two games later Indiana got a measure of revenge after that embarrassing loss, beating Iowa 86-69. That was is for losses. They won their last three regular season games including the rematch against Ohio State 93-83 and then took the Big Ten tournament beating Nebraska in the rematch in a 94-89 thriller in overtime.
Comparative Team Statistics
(leader in bold)
UConn Iowa
79.9 PPG 91.9
56.8 Defensive PPG 71.1
23.1 Scoring Margin 20.8
49.7 Field Goal % 50.0
35.4 Defensive FG% 39.6
36.4 Three Point % 37.7
28.2 Defensive 3PT% 30.4
74.4 Free Throw % 78.1
38.7 Rebounds/game 41.9
5.8 Rebounding Margin 7.6
19.6 Assists per game 21.4
12.9 Turnover per game 13.9
1.5 Assists/TO ratio 1.5
10.0 Steals per game 7.5
3.9 Blocks per game 3.4
UCONN
The player and coaches names for both teams
are clickable to see their Bios
are clickable to see their Bios
UConn Starters
UConn Injuries
OUT FOR THE SEASON
ACL
Achilles Injury
Head and Neck Injury
Iowa Hawkeyes
Iowa Injuries
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Game Analysis
This will be UConn's fourth straight game against a team that relies on one player for the majority of their points. Not as much in the Duke game, but UConn did hold their leading scorer Richardson to 5-15 from the field and 0-5 on threes for her total of 10 points. Against Syracuse, with third all time scorer Dyaisha Fair coming off a big game, held her to 6-22 shooting, 4-12 on threes for 20 points. And against second leading scorer in the country USC star JuJu Watkins was held to 9-25 shooting, 2-6 on threes, although she did get to the line going 9-9 in scoring 29 points.
Bottom line UConn and Nika usually do a great job on the best player they face.
This will be the third match up in four years between UConn and Iowa with the Huskies beating the Hawkeyes 86-79 in the 2023-23 season and in the Sweet Sixteen in Clarks and Bueckers incredible 2020-21 freshmen season 92-72.
In both of those games, Clark struggled against Muhl's defense. In their first match up Clark was 7-21 from the field, 4-12 on threes for 21 points. In last years's match up Clark scored 25 points on 9-24 shooting and 2-11 on threes. Does that impact how this game will go? Maybe.
Let's look at the Iowa players.
Of course it starts and ends with Superstar Caitlin Clark. You don't need me to talk about how good she is. I will say that she is even better than her past season. Mostly because she has increased her range to 30 feet. Insane. Ok, the facts. The 6' senior guard leads the team and nation in scoring at 32 PPG. She averages 34.6 MPG, but she will be playing 40 minutes in this game. Caitlin also hands out an amazing 9 APG and on top of that grabs 7.3 RPG. She is just a complete players. So what are her weaknesses? Every player has them. Well, she "only" shoots 46% from the field and 38% on threes. And she does get sloppy with the ball trying to do too much. She is close to 5 turnovers per game. Not a surprise with a player that has her hands on the ball as much as Clark does.
6'2" Sophomore forward Hannah Stuelke steps in for Clarks favorite target for three seasons Monica Czinano. Not as big as Czinano, she has made a nice jump from her freshman to sophomore season. She averages 13.8 PPG and 6.8 RPG. She will be matched up with Aaliyah Edwards and it will be tough going. Stuelke's biggest issue is foul trouble. She has fouled out of 4 games. She shoots a terrific 62% from the field and even has gone 4-8 on threes. I'd bet even money she makes one against UConn.
It feels like 6' grad student Kate Martin has been there forever. A terrific all around player, she is the third leading scorer at 13.1 PPG. Very efficient at 51.3% from the field and dangerous from three at 37.7%. And she is very good rebounder as well, snagging them at 6.8 per game. She has a knack for finding open spots for Clark passes. If Iowa has a player that will be a thorn in UConn's side is't Martin.
I guess this is a good place to note that Iowa lost a key player a few weeks ago. Molly Davis, a 5'7" senior guard, injured her knee on March 3rd against Ohio State. There was thought she would be back for the tournament but she isn't ready yet. Coach Bluder said "I really thought she'd be back by now. I really did. I have no idea how long it's going to take for her to completely heal, but we're not going to put her out there when it's unsafe for her to be out there." It's hard to believe she will be ready by Friday. Iowa has a much shorter roation with her out. She averaged 24 MPG and started 27 out of 30 games that she played. She shot 54% from the field, 40% on threes. Her best attribute was her play making. She just took care of the ball with 93 assists and only 37 turnovers.
Sydney Affolter, a 5'11" junior guard, stepped into the starting lineup after Davis's injury. She averages 8.3 PPG and 6.3 RPG. Yes, another good rebounding guard. Amazingly, she is 22-54 for 40.7% on threes. Exactly the same as the player she replaced in the starting lineup, Davis. She is shooting 55.9% from the field and is also simlar on ball handling to Davis with 84 assists and 34 turnovers. Andother 80+ percent four shooter as well.
The last starter is 5'9" 5th year guard Gabby Marshall. Another player that has been at Iowa forever. She is averaging 6.1 PPG and has a good assist/turnover ratio of 60/22. She is not going to contribute much except for decent defense. And of course now that I said that she will hit some key shots for Iowa.
You can bet that all starters except for Stuelke will play close to 40 minutes. Stuekle will play as much as foul trouble will allow, and Addison O'Grady, a 6'3" forward will tag team against Edwards. She is only averaging 9 MPG but does have 18 blocks on the season.
I did list two other bench players, 6' RS junior guard Kylie Feuerbach and 5'9" sophomore guard Taylor McCabe. They will probably not see the court.
UConn will be playing their three upperclassmen 40 minutes each. Only foul trouble will change that. We will see how Geno rotates the four freshmen. This is not a game where Brady will see a lot of minutes as Iowa plays their four guard lineup.
This is another game with the opponent doesn't have a big lineup, the type that UConn stuggles with. They will stick Nika on Clark like glue and if she stays out of foul trouble she will make Clark work hard to get her points. The added longer range game that Clark has is a difference. Nika will try to keep the ball out of her hands. Easier said than done.
UConn's scoring defense is 27th in the country. Iowa's scoring defense is 314th.
UConn's scoring offense is ranked 14th in the country. Iowa's scoring offense is 1st.
Final Prediction
This is going to be a great game. Paige vs Caitlin. The two best players in the country. I can only imagine play after play from these two. Back and forth. Shot for shot. You know it's gonna happen.
The question is who else will step up. How will the UConn freshman deal with a final four game?
I'm looking for Edwards to be the difference maker. And UConn's excellent defense to keep Iowa below their scoring average. I'm pretty sure UConn will hit 80+ in this game. Clark is going to get hers. Nika will make her work. The Huskies are going to prevail!!
UConn by 5+.
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