Just like in round one, the top-10 tussle between No. 6 Iowa and No. 8 Maryland didn’t live up to the dramatic billing folks nationally expected coming in.
The only difference was this time around it wasn’t Iowa (22-6, 14-3 Big Ten) delivering the resounding dominance over Maryland (23-5, 14-3 Big Ten). Instead, the roles were reversed as the Terps routed the Hawkeyes, 96-68.
Early on, it looked like it might be tracking for the type of late-game drama that many anticipated. Instead, Iowa’s 20-19 lead at the end of the first quarter quickly vanished as the second quarter and beyond turned into a College Park nightmare for the Hawkeyes.
Really, the second quarter itself felt like it decided this one. Once it began unraveling, it unraveled quickly for Iowa.
Maryland outscored Iowa 27-8 in the second quarter and just never looked back. The Terps added 27 more in the third quarter as the Hawkeyes struggled to find any kind of a defensive stop.
Maryland shot 47.9% from the floor and a silly 14-of-26 from 3-point range. A pair of Maryland players that came in averaging a combined 14.4 points per game went well above those numbers. The Terps’ guard duo of Brinae Alexander and Lavender Briggs knocked down 9-of-12 3-pointers and combined for 43 points.
Meanwhile, turnovers mounted all night long for Iowa to the tune of 24 giveaways. The Hawkeyes’ stars just never found their rhythm either.
After Caitlin Clark and Monika Czinano combined for 70 points in the series’ first edition this season, the pair finished with just 22 points. That’s 23 points below the duo’s season average.
Clark ended up shooting 5-of-13 from the floor and 4-of-10 from 3-point range, but a pair of those treys came in the fourth quarter after the game was already well out of reach. She also joined McKenna Warnock in a dubious statistic: tied for the team lead with six turnovers on the night.
Czinano likewise had an uncharacteristically difficult night. She made just 2-of-5 shot attempts and finished with four points.
Outside of Gabbie Marshall’s five made 3-pointers, just about anything that could have gone wrong seemed like it did. The most frustrating piece of the night is the reality that it ends Iowa’s hopes for a repeat share of the Big Ten regular season championship. Now, it’s all Indiana’s outright.
The fact that the Big Ten title is no longer on the line for Iowa takes some of the punch away from Sunday’s GameDay buildup versus No. 2 Indiana inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena as well.
Fans and media were stunned with how it played out as evidenced by the responses below on social media.