Iowa beat Maryland 96-82 the primary time, however that end result was considerably deceiving. Iowa benefited considerably kind Maryland capturing poorly from the ground and getting in foul hassle within the first matchup. Iowa additionally benefited from enjoying at house.

At its finest, Maryland is without doubt one of the finest offensive groups within the nation. Wing Diamond Miller is a possible high 3 choose within the upcoming WNBA Draft, and he or she has loads of good groups round her.

May Iowa end off the season sweep of Maryland, or would the Terps get their revenge?

The sport’s first 5 minutes began like a shootaround. Each groups took one fast jumper after one other, with neither getting a lot of something going within the paint. Iowa held a slender 14-12 lead on the under-5 timeout.

Each offenses slowed down a bit within the final half of the quarter, and Iowa in the end held a slender 20-19 lead heading to the second. Of notice, Monika Czinano took only one shot and had 0 first-quarter factors. Maryland was fronting her and utilizing a assist defender to play behind her, making an entry go subsequent to not possible, but additionally giving up loads of house to the alternative wing shooter.

The beginning of the second quarter was a catastrophe for Iowa. The Hawkeye protection saved giving Maryland open appears to be like from three and the Terps have been hitting the entire pictures they missed final time round. Iowa’s offense, in the meantime, saved launching jumper after jumper and missed each single one. At one level Maryland went on a 14-0 run and that helped the Terps lead 36-22 with 5:39 to go on the quarter. The onslaught barely slowed and it was quickly 44-24 with 4 minutes to go.

Iowa lastly scored a pair baskets to finish the quarter, however Maryland saved tempo and the Terps led 46-28 on the half. Maryland’s huge second quarter may be defined virtually utterly by three-pointers. Maryland shot 7/11 from three within the quarter and was 7/8 at one level. Iowa, in the meantime, was a horrendous 0/10.

Issues didn’t enhance for Iowa within the third quarter. Maryland continued to shoot properly, and Iowa couldn’t get something going offensively. The Terps led 73-49 heading to the fourth quarter, and the sport was over. Maryland in the end gained 96-68.

Caitlin Clark led Iowa with 18 factors, however she shot simply 5-13 from the sphere (extra on how Maryland contained her beneath). One huge adverse facet of this recreation was Clark’s response to adversity. She began forcing passes, forcing pictures, and her protection and rebounding have been lackluster. She’ll be taught from this expertise, however Iowa can’t afford for her to play annoyed like this once more.

Gabbie Marshall was one of many few vibrant spots for Iowa. Marshall has struggled with a capturing stoop all season, however has come round some recently and went 5-10 from three tonight. She ended the sport with 15 factors.

Sydney Affolter was one other vibrant spot, scoring 14 factors and grabbing 8 rebounds. At a time when most of Iowa’s gamers have been down, Affolter performed her hardest on each possession.

McKenna Warnock and Kate Martin have been a mixed 7-21 from the ground. Czinano had 4 factors on 2-5 capturing. A field rating for the sport is right here

Clark and Czinano killed Maryland within the first matchup. Maryland’s response to that was to play a box-and-one protection with the one player-to-player defender guarding Clark. The results of that was that for a lot of a possession, Clark was being double-teamed, particularly on the wing.

Due to that, Clark couldn’t actually drive to the basket and struggled to seek out house for her pictures. Even dealing with the ball was robust, as a result of she needed to beat the double to seek out house to go.

Extra importantly, although, was Maryland’s protection on Czinano. The zone defender closest to Czinano fronted her on most possessions. The low help-side defender then performed behind her for so long as she probably might. Because of this, Czinano was sandwiched for a lot of the recreation and Iowa actually didn’t have an choice to enter the ball to her.

In most of Iowa’s losses this 12 months, Czinano has been principally or utterly shut down. Groups have doubled her within the submit and made entry passes tough.

Throughout one of many timeouts tonight, Coach Bluder talked about Iowa needing to run its offense extra, however I don’t actually know what meaning. Operating the offense for 30 seconds wasn’t going to remove the entrance. Possibly it might take away the assistance defender, however solely with actually fast motion.

The higher reply—to me—is that Iowa wants to seek out methods tactically and in its execution to punish groups for doubling Czinano. I do know it sounds easy, however when two gamers are guarding a single participant, somebody on the offense is open. That participant must be ready to attain or do injury.

Tonight Marshall shot properly from three. However Warnock and Martin shot poorly, and Iowa’s bench (other than Affolter) had no actual affect. These gamers have to have the ability to knock down pictures after they’re open.

I anticipate each considered one of Iowa’s remaining opponents to implement a technique much like Maryland’s. It’s as much as Iowa to beat it.

I do know most aren’t going to need to hear this, however most of Maryland’s huge second quarter run was about capturing luck. Iowa as a crew shoots 37.4% from three. Maryland shoots 35.2%.

Within the second quarter, each groups shot loads of open threes. Maryland simply occurred to shoot 63.3% whereas Iowa shot 0%. It’s not like Maryland was getting considerably higher appears to be like. It’s not like Iowa was leaving Maryland’s stars broad open. Maryland’s function gamers simply hit their jumpers and Iowa’s didn’t. Quickly that capturing was an avalanche and that recreation was a blowout.

Iowa concludes the common season this Sunday, February twenty sixth at 1 pm at house towards #2 Indiana. The Hoosiers are 26-1 general and 16-1 within the Huge Ten. The sport shall be televised on ESPN. At 10am, ESPN could have School GameDay stay from Iowa Metropolis.