The Iowa Hawkeyes return to action Friday night against the Purdue Fort Wayne Mastodons in the first game of the Gulf Coast Showcase.
Iowa (4-1) enters the tournament coming off a convincing, bounce-back win over Drake, 113-90. Prior to squaring off against Drake, the Hawkeyes had dropped their first game of the season inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena against Kansas State, 65-58.
Senior star Caitlin Clark and the Hawkeyes really struggled to shoot against the Wildcats, but that wasn’t the case versus Drake. Clark regained her shooting touch, scoring 35 points on 14-of-22 shooting, including 5-of-11 from 3-point distance. The West Des Moines native also handed out 10 assists to record a double-double.
Meanwhile, one of the brightest signs for Iowa was the offensive explosion from graduate guard Kate Martin. The 6-foot guard knocked down three 3-pointers and registered a career-high 25 points on 10-of-12 shooting from the field.
Purdue Fort Wayne (2-1) comes into Friday having won two straight. The Mastodons opened with a 80-61 loss at Michigan but dominated Great Lakes Christian, 124-4,1 and beat Southern Illinois in overtime, 70-64.
Interestingly, No. 6 Iowa might get a chance to avenge its loss versus No. 22 Kansas State if both the Wildcats and Hawkeyes can win two games to set up the championship game rematch. First things first, Iowa needs to take care of Purdue Fort Wayne.
Here’s how Hawkeye fans can watch, stream and listen to tonight’s contest versus Purdue Fort Wayne.