Tag: McKenna Warnock

The show goes on! Takeaways from Hawkeyes’ historic Final Four win to advance to title game

The song keeps on playing and the Hawks keep on dancing! The biggest takeaways from Iowa’s historic Final Four win to advance to the title.

Every team wants the chance to take its shot at the top team, the team no one else can figure out — the team that is supposed to be dominant.

The Iowa Hawkeyes earned that chance against the South Carolina Gamecocks in the Final Four.

The Hawkeyes didn’t flinch.

Iowa jumped to a quick lead, showed it wanted to give everything and them some to South Carolina and proved it had every right to play for a national title. From the first quarter onward, Iowa weathered every run the Gamecocks thew at them and responded with one of their own. The Hawkeyes took down the team no one was supposed to beat.

Iowa’s 77-73 win was a heavyweight boxing fight with two powerhouses trading blows back and forth. It exceeded the lofty expectations America had set for it.

The effort by the Hawkeyes was incredible in every sense of the word from all sorts of contributors. Here are the biggest takeaways from the Hawkeyes’ historic Final Four win.

Final Four: Here come the Hawkeyes! The biggest takeaways from Iowa’s Elite 8 win

Final Four bound! The Iowa Hawkeyes’ magical season continues with their Elite Eight victory. Here are the biggest takeaways.

Your Iowa Hawkeyes are headed to the Final Four!

This season has been an incredible ride already but it has leveled up from something fun to thrusting itself into the history books and memories as one of the best seasons ever for a Hawkeyes’ squad.

In what was essentially like playing another game at Carver-Hawkeye Arena last night due to the support from Iowa fans, the Hawkeyes put on a show to make the trip worthwhile. The 97-83 win over Louisville in the Elite Eight sends the Iowa Hawkeyes to the Final Four in Dallas. It just their second time advancing this far into the tournament and the first since 1993.

The incredible part about this game was that it took everyone. There were contributions across the board and some to dive deeper into but all deserve their flowers. Monika Czinano once again showed her dominance in the paint with a masterclass on footwork.

Kate Martin is a glue piece that makes this team go and her contributions can’t be forgotten. Hannah Stuelke played significant minutes and played them well in the biggest moment of her young career. Assistant coach Jan Jensen, coaching with a heavy heart, dug deep and helped lead this family of Hawkeyes to a Final Four.

There are countless takeaways to discuss from this performance, but here are five of the biggest takeaways from the Hawkeyes’ Elite Eight victory over Louisville.

Updating a flurry of recent Iowa women’s basketball summer 2022 offers

Iowa women’s basketball added Central Michigan transfer Molly Davis last month. Now, they’re busy on the recruiting trail with six offers.

It’s a great time to be a fan of Iowa women’s basketball. The Hawkeyes enter the 2022-23 women’s college basketball season after a 24-8 season that included a share of the Big Ten regular season championship and the Big Ten Tournament title.

Of course, Iowa returns one of the frontrunners for national player of the year honors in point guard Caitlin Clark. The 6-foot junior from West Des Moines just capped a season where she led Division I in both points and assists per game with averages of 27 points and eight assists per contest.

In the process, Clark became the first women’s college basketball player to accomplish that feat. She also averaged eight rebounds per contest.

Last season, she was named Big Ten Player of the Year, earned unanimous first-team All-Big Ten honors and also earned Big Ten Tournament MVP and was named to the Big Ten All-Tournament Team.

Clark was named the Nancy Lieberman Point Guard of the Year and was the Dawn Staley Guard of the Year Award recipient, becoming the first student-athlete to win the Dawn Staley Award in consecutive seasons. She was also a finalist for the Naismith Award, the WBCA Wade Trophy, the John R. Wooden Award and the Honda Sport Award.

Joining Clark is a nucleus of talented players that will have the Hawkeyes back in the mix for both of the Big Ten championships next season as well as one of the contenders for the national championships once the 2023 NCAA Tournament rolls around.

Forward Monika Czinano is back after registering averages of 21.2 points and 6.2 rebounds per game. Guards McKenna Warnock, Kate Martin and Gabbie Marshall all return as well. That trio averaged 11 points and 6.5 rebounds, 7.2 points and 6.8 points, respectively. Warnock and Marshall connected on 40.4% and 39.3% of their 3-point tries last season.

With all of that excitement in tow for the 2022-23 season, there’s really no better time than the present to parlay it into recruiting successes. Iowa head women’s basketball coach Lisa Bluder and her staff have stayed busy this offseason as they look to bolster this current roster and ensure exciting basketball stays in Iowa City for years to come.

Let’s take a look at an addition from last month to next season’s roster and break down six recent offers the Hawkeye staff has doled out.

March Sadness: Iowa women’s NCAA Tournament run ends versus No. 10 seed Creighton

A fantastic season came to a close as No. 10 seed Creighton shocked second-seeded Iowa, 64-62, inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

It wasn’t supposed to end this way. Not with that type of crowd inside of Carver-Hawkeye Arena and not with this talented Iowa team. Tenth-seeded Creighton (22-9) made sure that it did, though.

In front of a raucous Hawkeye crowd, Creighton never blinked. It only added to the sting that the game-winning, 3-point shot was delivered by Iowa transfer and now Creighton sophomore guard Lauren Jensen with 15 seconds remaining. Playing against her former team, Jensen netted 8-of-15 field goal attempts and finished with a team-high 19 points to lead the Bluejays.

“Honestly, I was just super excited. I honestly didn’t know if it was going to go in. It kind of rattled off the back rim there. It wasn’t super clean, but I’m just glad it fell,” Jensen said.

Jensen leaned on her familiarity with Iowa to overcome what was a third-consecutive sell out crowd for the Hawkeyes.

“Obviously I’m pretty familiar with the arena because I played here all of last year, but I felt like that definitely helped. But on the flip side, there’s also some nerves with that because I’m wearing a different color this year, but I feel like it did help,” Jensen said.

Iowa head women’s basketball coach Lisa Bluder tipped the cap to her former player’s performance and thanked Hawkeye fans for the incredible environment they created.

“Obviously, just want to congratulate Creighton. A very well-played game, executed really well, defended really well. That’s a hard matchup for us. Five guards is a hard matchup. We knew that. But they did a great job, and Lauren Jensen was here last year, obviously that’s an incredible storyline. She goes over there and she comes back and beats us on our home court, and I want to congratulate her because she’s a great kid. She is a really, really good kid. I’m happy for her. I wish it wasn’t in this situation, but I am happy for her that she’s found a really good home and is really having a lot of success.

“Our crowd today was amazing again. I think we broke the NCAA record for first and second rounds of attendance, and I apologize to our fans that they couldn’t celebrate a victory with us today. They have been amazing all year, but boy, these last three games they’ve been incredible. So I want to thank them,” Bluder said.

Creighton won the rebounding battle over Iowa (24-8) in convincing fashion. The Bluejays out rebounded the Hawkeyes, 52-37. After Creighton jumped out in front 23-17 at the end of the first quarter, it felt like Iowa was battling uphill the rest of the afternoon.

In the second quarter, Iowa star sophomore guard and Big Ten Player of the Year Caitlin Clark knocked down her second 3-pointer of the day to bring the Hawkeyes back within 28-23. Creighton responded with a 10-3 run to grab the Bluejays’ biggest lead of 12 points at 38-26. During that 10-3 run by Creighton, Clark connected on what would be her final made 3-pointer of the season at the 3:54 mark of the second quarter.

Iowa closed the first half on a 6-0 run of their own to close the deficit to 38-32 at halftime. Early in the fourth quarter, it looked as if Iowa might finally be poised to take command and pull away from Creighton. Iowa junior guard Gabbie Marshall drilled back-to-back 3-pointers to put Iowa in front 56-54 with 6:53 remaining. That was the Hawkeyes’ first lead in the contest since Clark’s jumper fell to put Iowa in front 15-14 with 5:11 left in the first quarter.

In the final 2:48, though, it was Jensen that hit a jumper to pull Creighton back within two, drove inside for a game-tying layup and then, of course, hit the game-winning 3-pointer.

Iowa senior forward Monika Czinano was fantastic all afternoon long and finished with 27 points on 12-for-20 field goal shooting. In fact, she was a perfect 6-for-6 on her first six attempts from the field. With that in mind, it made sense that the play on Iowa’s final possession was set up for Czinano. She got a post-up touch inside off the inbounds pass, turned and left what would have been the game-tying shot for Iowa short. The Hawkeyes had a pair of put-back opportunities off Czinano’s miss, but those didn’t find the mark either.

“Yeah, I think I had a hook shot. I’ve shot a million hook shots in my life and that one happened to not go in. I think we’ve run that play a lot. We needed to run that play, and it was just unfortunate that it didn’t go in,” Czinano said.

It’s a disappointing end to a season that saw Iowa share the Big Ten regular season crown, win a Big Ten Tournament championship, earn a No. 2 seed in the Greensboro region, but fail to reach the tournament’s second weekend. Clark, a national player of the year candidate, wasn’t going to focus on all of the negatives.

“I thought we battled and battled and battled. Obviously didn’t perform the way we needed to to win in the fashion that we wanted, and I think we still had a lot of opportunities to win the game. But overall they executed down the stretch and we didn’t, and there’s a lot of little things that you can go back and pick out from a one-possession game. And I think it’s overall just going to be a lot of fuel to the fire next year. I think that’s really all you can use it as. Obviously we’re frustrated, we’re disappointed, we’re sad, but we have our core coming back, and I think that’s something bright to look forward to, as well,” Clark said.

Iowa does bring plenty of firepower back and it’s headlined by Clark. While the season ends in frustrating fashion, Iowa can take solace in the type of team it will field in the 2022-23 season.

Contact/Follow us @HawkeyesWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Iowa news, notes, and opinions.

Follow Josh on Twitter: @JoshOnREF

Iowa vs. Creighton: game details, how to watch

Iowa plays Creighton in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Here’s details and how to watch the second round matchup.

Iowa put together a historic performance in its first round NCAA Tournament  tilt against Illinois State. The Hawkeyes scored the most points in program history in a tournament game, winning 98-58.

Sophomore guard Caitlin Clark delivered another big performance, scoring 27 points on 9-for-15 shooting, dished out 10 assists and pulled down six rebounds. Senior forward Monika Czinano pitched in 18 points and grabbed seven rebounds. Junior guard Gabbie Marshall and senior guard Tomi Taiwo each scored 13 points.

Now, the Hawkeyes play host to No. 10 seed Creighton, who took care of its own business in Iowa City versus Colorado, 84-74.

“Creighton is a really good 3-point shooting team. They play a lot of 5-out, and they’re going to shoot the ball a lot. And they push the ball well in transition. I think they’re similar to us in wanting to shoot the ball. But they don’t play as fast-paced as we do. But there might be some matchup issues inside. But they’re a pretty good team. And there’s not much difference from the scrimmage; but, yeah, we’re just getting prepared for that, and we’ll be ready to guard the 3-point line,” Iowa redshirt junior guard Kate Martin said of the Hawkeyes’ next opponent.

Iowa women’s basketball, Caitlin Clark roll in NCAA Tournament opener over Illinois State

Caitlin Clark dropped 27 points in front of a sellout crowd at Carver-Hawkeye Arena as second-seeded Iowa rolled Illinois State, 98-58.

Illinois State jumped out to a quick 9-4 lead about four minutes into Friday afternoon’s NCAA Tournament opener after the Redbirds’ Juliunn Redmond hit a jumper. Second-seeded Iowa (24-7, 14-4 Big Ten) didn’t waste any more time after that bringing the sellout Carver-Hawkeye Arena crowd to its feet.

Sophomore guard and national player of the year candidate Caitlin Clark connected on her first of two made 3-pointers on the afternoon to pull Iowa back within a bucket, and, with that Clark make, the Hawkeyes were off and running. Illinois State (19-14) answered right back with a 3-pointer from Mary Crompton, but Iowa junior guard Gabbie Marshall drilled a trey of her own on the next trip down the floor.

Then, Hawkeye junior guard McKenna Warnock tied the game with a layup, Marshall gave Iowa its second lead of the afternoon on a 3-pointer with 3:41 remaining in the first quarter and the Hawkeyes ended the game’s opening quarter on a 17-6 scoring run.

After outscoring Illinois State 22-14 in the second quarter, the Hawkeyes really came alive in the third quarter. Iowa canned 8-of-10 3-point tries to balloon the lead to 74-47. When the 98-58 Hawkeyes’ victory was all said and done, Iowa had registered its most points in an NCAA Tournament game in program history.

The Hawkeyes shot 60 percent from the floor and 46.2 percent from 3-point range. Iowa also hit 20-of-21 from the free throw line to record the Hawkeyes’ best percentage finish from the charity stripe in an NCAA Tournament game.

Clark had another banner day, finishing with 27 points, 10 assists and six rebounds. It was the West Des Moine product’s 25th career double-double and 16th of the season. Iowa senior forward Monika Czinano added 18 points and was a perfect 6-for-6 shooting from the floor to go with a perfect 6-for-6 from the free throw line. Marshall and senior guard Tomi Taiwo each chipped in 13 points.

“I mean, obviously very excited about this game. Almost scoring 100 points out here tonight. We shot the ball well from all areas. Two, three, free throw line. I think we had 23 assists on 30, or 25 assists on 33 baskets. I love that style. Really sharing the ball really well. Only have 11 turnovers today, so that was great to see. I thought it was a really good game, especially with a couple weeks off here. I was worried about that rust, and I don’t think we really showed any signs of that today.

“But I really want to thank the crowd that came out. I mean, our fans were amazing. Our fans, you know, they braved parking problems today, they braved rain, and they still got here. We are so appreciative of them. But just come again on Sunday. It’s going to be easier. No hospital traffic and no rain let’s hope,” Iowa head women’s basketball coach Lisa Bluder said.

Iowa converted 13 Illinois State turnovers into 23 points and also outscored the Redbirds 24-2 in fast break points.

“Yeah, I think transition is always our best offense. We want to get to that no matter what. Obviously defending in transition is an area that we can still improve and get better at so it’s great to hear that we only gave up two points in transition. But yeah, I think that’s our best offense.

“I thought we got a lot of great contributions off the bench. Obviously, Tomi shot the ball well, Addy came in, so that always helps as well. But yeah, overall our transition offense when we’re doing it the way we should and when we get stops on the defensive end, that just leads to our transition offense. Hands down our best offense and that’s what we like to get to the most,” Clark said.

Iowa advances in the Greensboro region and will meet No. 10 seed Creighton in the second round after the Bluejays beat Colorado, 84-74. The Hawkeyes play at home inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Sunday versus Creighton.

Contact/Follow us @HawkeyesWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Iowa news, notes, and opinions.

Follow Josh on Twitter: @JoshOnREF