It’s easy to get caught up in takeaways from the NCAA Tournament’s opening weekend.
Who impressed the most? Who underwhelmed? Which lower-seeded teams might continue a Cinderella march through the bracket?
For the top-seeded Iowa Hawkeyes, it really doesn’t matter what the outside world thinks. Iowa (31-4, 15-3 Big Ten) will gladly take its 64-54 win over No. 8 seed West Virginia (25-8, 12-6 Big 12) in the second round.
Besides, Iowa was in a similar game a season ago versus then-No. 10 seed Georgia. Iowa won that game, 74-66. Then, the Hawkeyes marched all the way to the brink of a national championship.
A number of things happened that didn’t fit Iowa’s typical M.O. in its win over West Virginia.
The Hawkeyes had just seven assists, were held nearly 30 points below their season scoring average and made six less 3-pointers than they do on average. In fact, senior guard Caitlin Clark made all five of Iowa’s 3-pointers against WVU.
Afterwards, though, Clark was discussing all of the reasons why this was a great win for the Hawkeyes.
“This is definitely up there with the best of them mentally and emotionally and physically, grinding this out and getting the win. To be honest, looking back on our journey last year, to me, this is one of the hardest rounds in the NCAA Tournament. Everyone is really good. You’re expected to win. You’re on your home court. You have all the pressure in the world. They have absolutely nothing to lose to come in here and upset us. That happened my sophomore year. Last year, we were in a game that was even closer than this one.
“Our group wasn’t flustered by any means when they tied it up. Yes, we had so many opportunities tonight where we got to a 10-point lead, a seven-point lead, and we couldn’t figure out a way to extend it. Honestly, we just didn’t shoot the ball very well. We didn’t make shots we normally make. We didn’t shoot it too great from the three-point line,” Clark said.
Clark’s right. Iowa shot just 5-of-22 from 3-point range and just 17-of-47 from the field. That’s 36.2% from the field and only 22.7% from 3-point distance.
“I think that should give us a lot of motivation. West Virginia is a really good basketball team. We found a way to win. We changed up our defenses. We got big rebounds when it mattered. We made big free throws.
“I think that’s the biggest thing. There’s a lot of positive to take away from this when maybe we didn’t even play our best basketball or look as pretty. That’s more fulfilling of a win for us than going out there and winning by 30 points,” Clark said.
And, Iowa showed it could win with its defense.
“I think a lot of people think we’re only an offensive team. And we do work on defense all the time. I’m glad we got to show that tonight. That’s what won this game. So I’m really proud of that,” sophomore forward Hannah Stuelke said.
Teams have to find different ways to win and advance in the NCAA Tournament. This wasn’t Iowa’s typical fashion or path to victory.
And that’s good news for the Hawks.
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