Fresh off their season-opening 87-34 victory over the Southern Jaguars, the Hawkeyes return to play by hosting the Evansville Aces.
“Alright, well, game two. I mean, here we go. Excited to get back on the floor again. We had a one-day prep for this game, because we had to take the mandatory NCAA day off yesterday, but that’s okay. This time of year, you just want to play. Your kids want to be on the floor.
“We know the competition’s going to get better against Evansville and we’re looking forward to that. And then, obviously this weekend we have the first road trip of the year going to Drake. We’ve heard that they’ve got almost a sellout there and that we know it’s just a really difficult place to play. It’s just a great environment for college basketball. Two good challenges coming up,” Iowa head women’s basketball coach Lisa Bluder said of the Hawkeyes’ next two contests.
In Iowa’s opener, Caitlin Clark scored 20 points on 6-of-10 field goal shooting, including 3-of-6 from 3-point range. Hawkeye forwards Monika Czinano and Hannah Stuelke each scored 10 points as well to round out Iowa’s double-figure scorers.
As a team, Iowa finished with 51.7% field goal shooting and knocked down 11-of-36 3-pointers for 30.6% accuracy from downtown. One area the Hawkeyes would like to improve is their assist-to-turnover ratio. Iowa assisted 18 times, but turned it over 19 times against the Jaguars.
On the defensive end of the floor, the Hawkeyes are looking for similar results moving forward. Iowa limited Southern to just 21.1% shooting and forced 18 turnovers.
Evansville (1-0) presents a stiffer challenge tonight. Here’s how Hawkeye fans can watch and listen.