Iowa is aiming for Cy Hawk glory

To paraphrase the poet-warrior Mike TysonYou never know how good a fighter is until he gets punched in the face. It’s easy to do well against inferior competition. How you respond to the first moment of distress usually determines how you move forward.

Against Tennessee, Iowa got hit in the face. 30 turnovers against a stifling defense.

A late lead that passed.

Plays weren’t made when it mattered most.

Iowa also received numerous chin checks from Iowa State on Wednesday. A 12:2 deficit at the start. A 56:46 deficit towards the end of the third period. 31 points and 10 rebounds from a seemingly unstoppable game Audi crooks. Another close game in the final minutes, just like Tennessee.

However, instead of passing, Iowa’s players responded immediately. Runs to make up for major deficits. Stops after an empty possession. And in the final moments of the game, the Hawks prevailed on both ends to claim a 75-69 victory over #18 Iowa State.

“I learned what I hoped to learn,” coach Jan Jensen said of her team overcoming the tough moments Iowa faced.

Another Hawkeye State, yes. But a Hawkeye State earned this year through both character and strong play.

Sydney Affolter was as important to Iowa’s Final Four run last year as any player not named Clark. She scored 16 points, a season high and two shy of her Hawkeye best. She defended with two steals and six contested rebounds, including a late O-board that got her to the free throw line and increased Iowa’s lead to five. She did that everything Iowa needed it, especially in big moments.

“Syd is our ‘dog,'” Jensen said.

This year, however, Affolter didn’t look much like the Affolter who helped Iowa win late last season. She came into the game averaging just 6.3 ppg.

“Syd is stubborn at best,” Jensen said. “Syd won’t notice that she’s been out for six weeks. So Syd just wanted to say, ‘I’m back, I’m fine.’ What we’ve seen is that she hasn’t found that rhythm and tonight it kind of faltered.

Indeed: welcome back to the real Sydney Affolter. For the game, she had 16 points and six rebounds on 6/11 shooting. She also had two thefts and, perhaps most importantly, zero Sales.

“Syd really took it into his own hands for a while and just said, ‘Okay, I need to make some plays,'” Jensen said.

What’s even more impressive is that Affolter’s contributions came at important moments. A three-pointer with a minute left in the third period, shortly after Iowa had lost ten points. A layup and then an assist on consecutive possessions gave Iowa the lead with 4:24 to play. An offensive rebound and a draw foul with 1:25 left, with Iowa’s lead still at a precarious four.

These are the plays Affolter made last year that she hasn’t made enough of so far this season.

“There are really no excuses. I just had to be aggressive on offense,” Affolter said of her game. “It just keeps getting better and better.”

Midway through the third quarter, Iowa State had a narrow lead of 46-44, and it’s fair to say that Audi Crooks made the difference. Crooks had 23 points at that point, and she forced Iowa’s guards to play more help on defense at the expense of the shooters, who were left open on the perimeter.

Iowa’s posts faced some adversity in the game caused by one of the game’s great posts.

Then suddenly things changed. Ava Heathen guarded Crooks late in the third quarter and had some success. She got a block. She made it difficult for Crooks to get into position and harshly denied entry passes.

For most of the fourth quarter, Iowa kept pace Hannah Stülke against Crooks. “I wanted to give (Crooks) a different look,” Jensen said of moving away from Heiden or Addi O’Grady as the Crooks’ primary defender.

What she lacked in size, Stülke made up for in strength and athleticism. She took the lead from Crooks and then used her bounce to get up and tip away entry passes. That made Iowa State’s guards question their passes and led to some crucial turnovers.

As Iowa started its late run, Iowa State tried to lean on Crooks in the post. The Cyclones couldn’t, largely because of Stuelke.

The transition from high school to college brings with it a certain humility for everyone Taylor Stremlow was no exception. After a hot start, an injury occurred Lucy Olsen forced her into the star lineup as Iowa’s point guard in Cancun.

It didn’t go well. Six ball losses against Rhode Island. Three turnovers against just one assist against BYU. Zero points in both games. Then she played just five minutes against Tennessee in New York.

It would be easy for any newcomer to get relegated after this performance. Stremlow didn’t. Instead, she brought her typical aggressive energy.

“Audi is one of those pillars, it’s hard to beat them. She has an incredible ability to keep up and fade, and when you get the double it doesn’t affect it,” Jensen said. “The one who can be effective is Taylor Stremlow. Once she was in front and she (Crooks) started to get into position, Taylor was able to do it.”

The steal described by Jensen occurred with 2:35 left in the fourth quarter, when Iowa led by just four minutes. It was a great play to keep the momentum going in the Iowa corner.

Early in the fourth period, Stremlow ripped the ball away from Crooks just under the Hawkeyes’ basket after a rebound. The play quickly resulted in a turnover – as Taylor Stremlow Experience™ tends to do – but it helped bring the Iowa crowd back into the game and put more pressure on the visiting Cyclones.

Life was enough Aaliyah Guyton a big dose of adversity over the past year.

In the middle of her senior year of high school, she suffered a torn ACL, which forced her to miss the remainder of her season. Her recovery lasted into the summer and then even longer. Guyton was cleared to play just days before her college debut Washington State November 24th.

Before a ranking game, Guyton had played a total of 49 minutes of college basketball. Those 49 minutes were the typical mixed bag for freshmen. Guyton started the year very well with her shots on goal, but only had four assists and eleven turnovers.

When Guyton came on in a five-point game with 1:09 left in the game, it would have been easy for them to fade into the background. Having one of Iowa’s seniors take the game-winning shot.

Instead, when she was open and connected, she fired confidently at the dagger of the game.

In the final moments of a close game, Iowa could have pulled out. The players could have been more tense in their big moment and lost another tough game like they did against Tennessee.

Instead, Iowa’s players and coaches learned from the bad and overcame it. Their prize was a ranking victory and the right to bragging rights against their in-state rival for another year.