Leistikow's 4 Iowa-UCLA thoughts: Frustration outweighs positives in latest close loss

Leistikow’s 4 Iowa-UCLA thoughts: Frustration outweighs positives in latest close loss

Posted by author February 23, 2025 Basketball

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IOWA CITY − After escaping Iowa City with a two-point win, the head coach of third-ranked UCLA was extremely complimentary of what Jan Jensen has done with the Iowa women’s basketball team in her first season as head coach.

“Their record is not reflective of how well they’re playing right now,” Cori Close said after UCLA’s 67-65 victory in front of a raucous sellout crowd of 14,998 at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. “They are absolutely one of the most purposeful basketball teams we’ve had to play against. They know what looks they’re trying to get, how to get to their spots.

“They set and use screens as well as anyone we’ve played. They have a toughness about them that … makes it really hard for us to take them out of what they want to do.”

Such compliments might be flattering, coming from a 26-1 team like the Bruins who have routinely beaten top-10 teams (including then-No. 1 South Carolina) by double digits all season.

But Jensen is kind of tired of these so-called moral victories, and she’s right.

Iowa needs to start winning these tight games.

The Hawkeyes dropped their record to 1-5 in games decided by five points or less, the only win being 85-80 after lowly Northwestern made a very late charge. Whittle it down to one-possession games – decided by three points or less – and the Hawkeyes are 0-4. Make it 0-5 if you throw in Monday’s overtime loss at Ohio State (which ended up being decided by eight).

Iowa lost by two at Michigan State (68-66) on Dec. 15; by three at home to Nebraska in overtime (87-84) on Jan. 16; by one at Oregon (50-49) on Jan. 19; and now Sunday’s two-point loss. In all four losses, the Hawkeyes blew second-half leads of at least nine points.

Every game has had a different source of late-game frustration. Sunday, Jensen was upset with shot selection and rebounding (UCLA owned a 25-11 advantage on the glass in the second half) after the Hawkeyes had built a 12-point lead multiple times in the third quarter.

“We’re battling,” Jensen said. “You get to a point where it’s, ‘Doggone it.’ … Until we get collectively tired of coming that close … We just take too many bad shots at the wrong time.”

I’ve compared this season at times to the 2019-20 Hawkeyes, the year after Megan Gustafson left. That Kathleen Doyle-led team was 4-1 in games decided by five points or less and finished 23-7 overall, 14-4 in Big Ten Conference play before the COVID-19 pandemic canceled the postseason.

This Iowa team led by a senior point guard in Lucy Olsen (instead of Doyle) is now 18-9 overall, 8-8 in Big Ten play. Just think how the record would be different if Iowa had even a handful of close-game wins vs. losses.

The Hawkeyes exited Sunday tied for 11th place with Minnesota (which it beat), but one game out of eighth place and two out of sixth with two games remaining – at Michigan (which is 10-6 in league play) on Wednesday, home against Wisconsin (4-12) on Sunday to finish.

“I feel like we have been so close these last two games, and I know that we can play with anybody,” said Iowa guard Taylor McCabe, who had 10 points. “It’s just going to come down to how we execute at the end of games, and our shot selection probably needs to be a little bit better as well.”

UCLA’s Lauren Betts, Cori Close react to last-second victory at Iowa

Betts, Close and Gabriela Jacquez take questions about Carver-Hawkeye Arena and UCLA’s comeback 67-65 win over the Hawkeyes.

The final sequence: Lucy Olsen’s foul, Addi O’Grady’s air ball

The final 6.8 seconds were filled with drama … yet sort of ended with a thud.

Let’s start with Olsen stepping to the line with 6.8 seconds left to shoot three free throws, with Iowa down 65-62. Olsen notably had struggled in late-game situations at the line, especially in that home loss to Nebraska, but in this case sank all three – the last two not touching the rim – to tie the score.

“My free throws obviously haven’t been great this season, so I was proud of myself in that moment,” Olsen said. “I thought that was like, ‘All right, you hit those free throws, so we’re going to win this game.’”

Officiating was involved all afternoon with unusual whistles, and one more wound up deciding the game. Olsen, defending Elina Aarnisalo around a wide screen by Angela Dugalic, tripped and fell into the legs of Aarnisalo with 3.8 seconds to go. The nearest official called a blocking foul on Olsen, and the two free throws went in.

“I got hit on the screen, so it bumped me into her,” Olsen said. “I couldn’t really do anything about that, and then I just fell, and then they called a foul for me falling.”

Some folks thought it was an illegal screen, probably similar to what UConn set against Gabbie Marshall in the final moments of the Final Four last year.

Since they didn’t call the screen illegal, tripping up another player warranted the whistle. Even Jensen conceded that fact, though hadn’t seen a replay.

“At the end of the day, there’s one rule of law. You don’t have time to take it to an appeals court,” Jensen said. “… It’s a trip. But I do believe they had to call that. But I’m like, ugh, what are the chances?”

Even so, after Iowa’s timeout brought the ball past half-court, the Hawkeyes had a chance to win or tie. Sydney Affolter inbounded to Addison O’Grady, who stood at the top of the key and fired her first 3-point attempt since the first game of the 2022-23 season vs. Southern. She left it short, an air ball.

Jensen was OK with that look, saying O’Grady has 3-point range, but also said it was the third option.

“First look, Hannah (Stuelke) with a really quick dive on a screen. Second look, Lucy coming around. If two went with Lucy, Addison was going to be there,” Jensen said. “We got a look. It would have been a storybook ending. That would have been a good play with a lucky ending, because we don’t practice it.”

Credit UCLA, which is one of the better defensive teams in the country. But bummer for Iowa.

A special moment for Lucy Olsen and her mother

Iowa annually celebrates cancer survivors and builds awareness for the fight against the deadly disease with their “pink game” at home. Iowa puts the name of someone close to each player who has been afflicted with cancer on the back of each jersey. For Olsen, the back of her No. 33 jersey read, “MY MOM.” (She also had the jersey on for Ohio State’s pink game on Monday.)

Kelley Olsen, her mom, is a breast cancer survivor – twice. She was afflicted on one side in 2012, when Lucy was about 9 years old, then again 18 months later on the other. She was at Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Sunday and proud to say she has been clear of cancer for more than a decade.

“I’m hoping to be able to keep it together,” Kelley Olsen said. “It’s amazing and wonderful what Iowa does with their jerseys. It’s another level of Iowa Nice, that they thought to do this.”

Kelley came out with Lucy during the starting-lineup introductions, wearing a huge smile of course.

While Olsen struggled with her shot Sunday (5-for-21), she finished with a team-high 17 points and grabbed five rebounds.

“It was super special,” Olsen said. “Got to share that moment with her. I know she was excited.”

Hear from Taylor McCabe, Lucy Olsen after Iowa women’s basketball falls at No. 3 UCLA

Final thought on the game

Lauren Betts was always going to get her points, with such a size advantage at 6-foot-7 against the smaller Hawkeyes. She finished with 22 points and 12 rebounds on 9-of-12 shooting to lead all scorers.

The Hawkeyes did a good job forcing others to take shots, and UCLA (26-1, 14-1) went 5-for-25 from 3-point range. Iowa got scrappy efforts across the board and played pretty clean basketball (eight turnovers) against a great defense. Compare that to a 30-turnover game earlier this year against Tennessee.

The best thing that can happen going forward is that the Hawkeyes once and for all take these close losses and prove what Close said about them: That they are a really good, dangerous team. Iowa can still grab a 20-win regular season with a 2-0 final week and carry plenty of momentum going into the March 5-9 Big Ten Tournament.

“There’s a lot to play for,” Jensen said. “If we can play like that the next couple games and into the tournament. … I think we could have a little fun in March. That’s the goal.”

Hawkeyes columnist Chad Leistikow has served for 30 years with The Des Moines Register and USA TODAY Sports Network. Chad is the 2023 INA Iowa Sports Columnist of the Year and NSMA Co-Sportswriter of the Year in Iowa. Join Chad’s text-message group (free for subscribers) at HawkCentral.com/HawkeyesTexts. Follow @ChadLeistikow on X.