In a matchup of two undefeated Big Ten teams with tied 13-game winning streaks, No. 13 Indiana emerged victorious Saturday night. IU fell to No. 3 Iowa 84-57 at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City.
IU is now 14-2 (5-1 Big Ten), while Iowa improved to 17-1 (6-0 Big Ten).
“I wish we could have played so much better than we did tonight,” IU coach Teri Moren said. “Every ounce of credit goes to Iowa, they were great.”
Here are three observations from the game:
The Caitlin Clark Show
IU coach Teri Moren admitted Friday that the Hoosiers, like most teams across the country, haven't found a solid way to successfully guard Iowa superstar Caitlin Clark. IU's hope was to at least limit them to less than their 30 points per game average.
The Hoosiers were successful in the first quarter. Clark was 0-for-6 from 3-point range in the first 10 minutes and had eight points while getting to the rim. Then Clark made her first three-pointer in the 7th minute of the second. As the crowd at Carver-Hawkeye Arena cheered, Clark shot beyond the arc for the second straight game and the floodgates opened.
Indiana in Caitlin Clark's future? “I know how supportive the people here are of women’s basketball.”
With five minutes left, IU guard Lexus Bargesser forced an offensive foul on Clark, sending her to the bench for a while. But the Iowa senior came back with two minutes left in the half, sinking two more 3-pointers to bring her halftime total to 20.
As the second half progressed, it seemed as if nothing could stop Clark. She appeared to have injured herself twice – once when she fell on her elbow and again when she sprained her ankle and hobbled to the locker room – but she returned just as quickly as she checked out.
She got Carver-Hawkeye going several times with her 3s and scored 30 points at the end of the third quarter (for the 46th time in her career). She recorded a double-double with ten assists in the third quarter.
Although Clark didn't score any more points in the fourth quarter, she didn't need to – Iowa was already leading by 15 points and her teammates continued to lead for her. Clark left the game after picking up her fourth foul in the 3rd minute, prompting loud cheers from the crowd.
IU also emphasized that while it can't stop Clark, it can try to limit everyone else. But Iowa senior guard Molly Davis tore through the IU defense in the first half, scoring her season-high 13 points at halftime and finishing with 18 points.
“We certainly didn’t do what we needed to do, either with Cait or with the others,” Moren said. “Molly Davis is supposed to have 18 points, just things like that. You know Cait will probably hit her average, but you don't want the other guys to have big nights. Unfortunately, we have let too many of them have their way with us.”
Prone to fluctuation
IU is not a team with big turnovers. Before the game against Iowa, IU was averaging just 13 turnovers per game.
At halftime against the Hawkeyes, the Hoosiers already had nine.
“Against a good team like Iowa, you can’t afford to lose a lot of turnovers, especially not that many,” senior Chloe Moore-McNeil said. “They will make you pay. Any team that is good will make you pay for a lot of turnovers.”
Sophomore guard Yarden Garzon, who struggled with the Iowa defense in the first half, recovered five of those turnovers in the first half. She traveled in the paint three times and then committed an offensive foul on Molly Davis – which was ruled flagrant when Garzon accidentally hit Davis in the face.
“She didn’t seem to be feeling well and she was having problems,” Moren said of Garzon. “We need it, and I don’t have the answer. You know, she has some other things going on, but we need to get her back on track.”
IU shot better from the floor than Iowa in the first half, but those turnovers gave the Hawkeyes many more opportunities to make shots. Iowa shot 37 times from the floor for 15 in the first half, while IU fired 29 for 16.
IU's turnover woes continued into the second half, as the Hoosiers committed four turnovers in five minutes early in the third quarter. During this period, with Carver-Hawkeye Arena once again roaring, Iowa led to a 9-0 run and a nearly four-minute scoring loss for the Hoosiers.
Hoosiers catch cold from outside the arc
While the Hawkeyes and Hoosiers made about the same number of field shots Saturday night, the difference was how many of those shots were threes.
Both the Hoosiers and Hawkeyes struggled from beyond the arc in the first quarter, with IU going 1 of 4 and Iowa 2 of 13 from the 3-point line. But that's where the similarities ended.
Clark led Iowa's three-point shooting Saturday night, hitting six of her 16 shots beyond the arc (including one with the Hawkeye logo). Hawkeye senior guard Gabbie Marshall also found fire from beyond the arc, shooting 4 of 7 for 12 points.
In contrast, IU's 3-point shooters remained cold. Garzon was the Hoosiers' best shooter from beyond the arc on Saturday, shooting 3 of 7 from the field. However, Sara Scalia and Sydney Parrish suffered from the 3-point line, going 0 of 4 and 1 of 4, respectively.
“We just didn’t score,” Moren said. “There were a few moments where I felt like we didn't look as organized offensively as we would have liked and that we kind of went off script.”