After its 74-66 loss versus No. 7 Maryland went final, No. 22 Iowa women’s basketball was left to stew about another slow start.
Iowa (12-3, 2-2 Big Ten) watched as Maryland (14-0, 4-0 Big Ten) came in and built a quick 13-2 lead in the game’s first five minutes. The Terps stunned Iowa by continuing to add to it, building their largest lead of 25 points in the final minute of the first half.
Afterwards, Iowa head women’s basketball coach Jan Jensen lamented the Hawkeyes’ slow start.
“We have these different lulls. I’m not happy with our starts. We didn’t start great at Penn State and we didn’t start great today and I’ve got to figure out why,” Jensen said.
The Hawkeyes struggled around the basket in this loss, too. Iowa finished just 15-of-34 on layups.
“I would have to watch the film, but, man, we left a lot of unforced errors and left a lot of layups on the table. I think that just is unfortunate when you’re playing a good team. We missed layups, we had some mental miscues,” Jensen said.
As Iowa moves forward, the Hawkeyes are hoping to build on a second half where Iowa closed to within five and looked like a completely different team.
“I’m thankful for the second half, because I think that looked like maybe we were a little bit more prepared. But, in defense of that, the other team also was up by 20, they’re probably not as sharp as the start…
“I’m thankful for the second half, because, this group, that’s what they did against Tennessee. I mean, we had 31 turnovers that game, but they never quit. We could have won the game, the Tennessee game, crazy as that sounds, but it’s because they kind of did what they did in the second half. Same at Michigan State,” Jensen said.
In all three of its losses thus far, Iowa hasn’t quit fighting. On Sunday, that might have been easy to do at several junctures, but Iowa wouldn’t allow that to happen.
Jensen credited her team’s resiliency in that regard.
“The beauty of them is, I’ve never lost a huddle. Over a 32-year career, we’ve lost a few huddles that you get too hot or they just look too fearful, they look like deer in headlights. That has not happened. Not one time. Even when we got down whatever real early and I called that first timeout. They usually respond, so I think that we can kind of build on that,” Jensen said.
One common denominator in Iowa’s defeats has been the turnover column. Against Tennessee, Iowa had 30 turnovers. At Michigan State, Iowa gave it away 23 times.
On Sunday, Iowa had 21 turnovers, including 13 in the first half.
“Absolutely, yeah. It is,” Jensen said when asked if it’s a concern for her team. “What was unfortunate, when we got it to six, we had a really bad turnover that led to a (bucket). Tried to tell them, ‘Eat the turnover.’ You don’t want a live-ball turnover. And we threw it right into the hands of No. 2, Smikle went down and hit it and it went to eight.
“Got the crowd really into it, so I just need to do a better job of trying to maybe put them under a little bit more duress in practice. But, yeah, it’s a big concern.”
As Jensen noted, if Iowa eliminated just a few giveaways in its losses versus Tennessee, Michigan State and Maryland, it might’ve been a different story in each game.
“I’d say even if you took five turnovers off at Tennessee, we might have won it. And that still would have been 26. We take another five off, that’d be 19 at Michigan State, pretty sure we’d have won that. Here today, so we need to do better entering into the post. That is a concern.
“We’ve been really good at that and we’re not that good at it right now, so I’ve got to figure that out,” Jensen said.
Now, Iowa will look to recalibrate before a Thursday date at Illinois (11-4, 1-3 Big Ten).
“I kind of talked about what we did do well, what we need to do better and what’s next. What we did do well was we had a great second half and we rebounded. What we need to improve is our starts and making some layups under pressure. And what’s next is Illinois,” Jensen said.
Contact/Follow us @HawkeyesWire on X and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Iowa news, notes and opinions.
Follow Josh on X: @JoshOnREF