Iowa women's basketball: Takeaways from Hawkeyes' season-opening win vs Northern Illinois

Iowa women’s basketball: Takeaways from Hawkeyes’ season-opening win vs Northern Illinois

Posted by Admin November 7, 2024 Basketball

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IOWA CITY — The blend of excitement and mild frustration in Jan Jensen’s postgame assessment felt appropriate given what had just unfolded.

On one hand, Iowa women’s basketball delivered a strong enough season opener Wednesday to showcase the potential this new roster owns. However, the Hawkeyes’ 91-73 home win over Northern Illinois lacked the consistency Jensen knows is needed to conquer what’s ahead this season.

“The whole thing, we had some moments, but I thought we lacked a lot of consistency,” Jensen said after her first official game leading the Hawkeyes. “And that’s the thing I would probably grade us pretty low in, consistency. When we were working on the actions within our offense, we had too many one-pass shots. But when we really worked our offense and did that consistently, we had a few runs.

“Defensively when we really put our head down and had a presence in there, then we were pretty good. But it was the lack of consistency, so I’d give us a lower grade on that. Part of it is with these games, you’re still trying to figure out who your people are.”

Several stretches clearly emphasize Jensen’s assessment. Early in the second quarter, after Northern Illinois grabbed its final lead of the game at 16-15, the Hawkeyes ripped off a 14-0 surge in less than four minutes that featured four different scorers. Another 11-2 push toward the end of the third quarter transformed a 16-point cushion into a robust 72-47 lead.

Pair those runs with a sluggish first quarter that included a scoring drought of nearly four minutes — then a seesawing fourth that was simply about getting to the finish line — and Iowa should have plenty to hone in on before the competition increases Sunday vs. Virginia Tech at Charlotte, N.C.

Here are a few more takeaways from Wednesday’s victory.

Kylie Feuerbach, Lucy Olsen talk after Iowa women’s basketball opening win vs. Northern Illinois

Kylie Feuerbach gets the season’s first gold star after versatile season opener.

As much as this Iowa season starts with focus on everything new, successfully elevating roles for several key returners is just as crucial.

Start there with Kylie Feuerbach, who generated a versatile stat line in just her third Iowa start and first since Feuerbach’s sophomore season. The senior guard did a little bit of everything with 14 points, a game-high nine rebounds, five assists and six steals. Feuerbach also accounted for four of the Hawkeyes’ nine treys, wasting no time draining from deep for Iowa’s first points of the year.

“It’s nice to see the hard work pay off,” Feuerbach said. “Regardless of the situation, I’m just going to work as hard as I can. And if that’s a positive or negative outcome, as long as I’m working hard, that’s all that really matters. If there are off nights for me, I know there’s going to be another girl shining.”

Reports of a more dialed-in Feuerbach trickled out of the offseason dialogue, setting the stage for what could be her most productive collegiate season in year three at Iowa. Stat lines like Wednesday’s won’t materialize every time out, but — like the overall big message — there is plenty of early potential to work with as Feuerbach settles into her heightened role.

Jan Jensen has to be getting tired of injury issues already.

Jensen talked at Big Ten media days about how injuries are inevitable over a long season, even if no one is always ready for when they hit.

Still, a huge scare on night one? Really?

With Sydney Affolter already sitting out as she finishes up her rehab from minor offseason knee surgery — she on the bench next to the also-injured Aaliyah Guyton and Kennise Johnson — the Hawkeyes got another potential helping of hurt in the first half.

Eyes all over Carver-Hawkeye Arena nervously darted to and from the tunnel after Hannah Stuelke hit the floor hard and limped to the training room. She was off the bench for about 15 minutes, returned to the bench shortly before halftime and then gingerly walked into the locker room at the intermission horn.

Stuelke’s status the rest of the way remained in serious doubt at that point, her dinged-up ankle reminiscent of the one she suffered at last year’s Gulf Coast Showcase after landing on someone’s foot. But Stuelke started the third quarter and played the bulk of the second half, finishing with 11 points and six rebounds in 19 minutes.

“I saw her on the floor,” Jensen said. “My heart dropped for a second. And then (assistant coach) Raina (Harmon) told me she’s good. I think they maybe just adjusted her ankle, but I think she’s good.”

Considering Iowa just went through almost the entire offseason with Stuelke sidelined following her own offseason knee clean-up, the Hawkeyes don’t want to see their star forward out for any significant time. Iowa seemingly dodged another health bullet on opening night.

Iowa’s true freshmen will sink or swim in the deep end.

Barely five minutes into Wednesday’s contest, and Iowa’s five on the floor were 60% freshmen. Ava Heiden (16 minutes), Teagan Mallegni (19 minutes) and Taylor Stremlow (22 minures) all got nice extended looks in their college debuts.

It’s clear all three will be learning to swim in the deep end. Mallegni followed up her strong exhibition with 14 points on 6-for-10 shooting, while Stremlow’s tenacity and toughness have quickly become her trademark traits. Two points, three rebounds, five assists, three blocks and two steals accentuated her instant value.

Heiden, meanwhile, seemed like the true freshman with the clearest path to playing time. But Jensen made sure to emphasize how learning down low can sometimes take longer than other positions. Heiden had four points and four rebounds while splitting time at the “5” position with Addison O’Grady, who had the fifth double-digit scoring game of her career in 14 minutes (12 points).

“Teagan and Taylor are doing a great job of coming in for their moments. They’re feeling it and just kind of going with it. Ava is processing a lot,” Jensen said. “With freshmen and bigs sometimes, the game goes really fast.

“What they could do in high school and what they were required to do, it’s nothing on the inside. They don’t know if they should foul. Are they fouling if they’re posting up too hard? They bury someone and are out of position. It just takes a little bit of time. You’ll see Ava continue to climb.”

Dargan Southard is a sports trending reporter and covers Iowa athletics for the Des Moines Register and HawkCentral.com. Email him at msouthard@gannett.com or follow him on Twitter at @Dargan_Southard.