Iowa girls’s basketball coach Jan Jensen recaps Cancun Problem, previews Tennessee matchup
Iowa girls’s basketball coach Jan Jensen recaps Cancun Problem, previews Tennessee matchup
IOWA CITY — Given all of the unprecedented girls’s basketball development Iowa has facilitated just lately, it appears applicable the Hawkeyes are proper in the midst of an inaugural non-conference occasion in a chief window.
Certain, the primary Girls’s Champions Traditional hoped Caitlin Clark can be included when it introduced Iowa as one of many 4 taking part groups in mid-February — just a few weeks previous to Clark’s eventual WNBA declaration. However the No. 20 Hawkeyes (8-0) who’re coming to Brooklyn for Saturday’s showdown versus Tennessee (6-0) have greater than sufficient attraction to shine within the highlight.
Two first-year head coaches in Iowa’s Jan Jensen and Tennessee’s Kim Caldwell will begin the Barclays Middle doubleheader at 6 p.m. on FOX, adopted by No. 22 Louisville (5-3) vs. No. 2 UConn (7-0) within the 8 p.m. nightcap. Each Iowa and Tennessee are watching their hardest foe so far.
With that, listed here are three issues to look at forward of Iowa’s New York go to.
Lucy Olsen, Aaliyah Guyton recap Iowa girls’s basketball in Cancun, sit up for Tennessee matchup
Lucy Olsen, Aaliyah Guyton recap Iowa girls’s basketball in Cancun, sit up for Tennessee matchup
After lacking two video games, how does Iowa girls’s basketball guard Lucy Olsen rebound in a well-known a part of the nation?
For all of the readability Olsen returning to apply this week was going to offer after lacking each Cancun Problem video games with a gashed knee, her Saturday standing could be most affected by who’ll be within the stands.
Olsen’s hometown of Collegeville, Pennsylvania, sits about 100 miles away from Barclays Middle, that means her contingent will probably be giant and loud Saturday evening. That is the closest Iowa will play to Olsen’s space this season, even nearer than the Hawkeyes’ New Yr’s Day journey to Penn State (roughly 180 miles from Collegeville).
“Hopefully I play. That will be form of embarrassing if everybody reveals up (and I sit),” Olsen joked Tuesday. “Lots of people are going to attempt to go to this recreation. I am excited to see my household and a few associates I have never seen shortly.”
The early-week vibes supplied loads of promise that Olsen’s freak fall in Cancun will value her solely two video games. In opposition to Tennessee’s high-octane press and tempo, Iowa will want its veteran level guard working like traditional.
Tennessee handed its first large take a look at this week, however in frantic vogue. Can the Hawkeyes’ highlight expertise repay but once more?
For all of the momentum Caldwell generated with 5 blowout house wins and loads of factors to begin her Tennessee tenure, the Woman Vols’ first actual take a look at did not arrive till Florida State got here to Thompson-Boling Area on Wednesday evening. Tennessee pulled out a 79-77 win, however not earlier than needing a defensive stand on the sport’s remaining possession after blowing a 20-point lead.
For the third time in 4 weeks, the Hawkeyes will probably be going through a workforce enjoying away from its house court docket for the primary time this season. Already, this will probably be Iowa’s fifth neutral-site recreation, second in an NBA venue and sixth general exterior Carver-Hawkeye Area. Pile on what a number of present Hawkeyes acquired in reaching back-to-back nationwide title video games, and that is an enormous distinction in expertise with highlight showdowns coming into this one.
How and why does that matter? There is no assure it should in the long run, nevertheless it not less than feels much less seemingly Iowa will lay an uncharacteristic egg than Tennessee given the circumstances. You see that generally in large one-off non-conference matchups, the place one workforce is simply inexplicably off with a efficiency that resembles little of what it does the remainder of the 12 months. Though each applications are adjusting to new leaders, Iowa ought to really feel the expertise intangible is firmly in its favor.
In a present distinction of kinds, which workforce can get the sport at its preferable tempo?
In a matchup the place one squad feels most comfy working wild in transition with ample buckets whereas generally sacrificing defensive consistency, it feels bizarre saying that workforce is not Iowa. However that is the place these Hawkeyes presently stand, leaning on their protection whereas ready for this system’s extra typical path to success.
Even with Iowa holding 5 of its first eight foes underneath 60 factors, Tennessee will simply supply the Hawkeyes their hardest defensive take a look at. Nationally, the Woman Vols rank first in factors per recreation (95), first in 3-pointers per recreation (38.2) third in turnovers pressured (28) and twenty seventh in assists per recreation (17.7). 5 double-digit scorers make for a prolonged scout.
On the flipside, shutting down this Tennessee unit would add extra legitimacy to Iowa’s newfound defensive success than the rest to this point. With Cy-Hawk and their Massive Ten opener at No. 25 Michigan State looming subsequent, the Hawkeyes can cost ahead with extra confidence of their versatility.
Dargan Southard is a sports activities trending reporter and covers Iowa athletics for the Des Moines Register and HawkCentral.com. E mail him at [email protected] or observe him on Twitter at @Dargan_Southard.
