By Michael McCurdy
The Hawkeye women’s basketball team will try to improve its Big Ten/ACC Challenge record of 3-6 with a win tonight. To Iowa’s misfortune, it will welcome No. 1 Notre Dame into Carver Hawkeye; tip-off is 8 p.m.
Iowa head coach Lisa Bluder said she’s excited about the opportunity. She sees the contest as a win-win for the Hawkeyes because it will only boost their strength of schedule, and the result will establish how far the Hawkeyes need to go to compete at the next level.
“We know they are a very good basketball team, and they have been to Carver before, but certainly testing yourself against the best is going to help our RPI,” Bluder said. “We have absolutely no pressure. We have to use this game as an opportunity for an upset and to get better by going against the best.”
The Fighting Irish enter the game with a record of 6-0, impressively outscoring opponents by an average of almost 30 points per game. However, by no means have the Irish been tested with top-notch competition. But the difference in point margin is still an incredible feat that has the attention of Bluder.
“Notre Dame’s consistency of success over decades … head coach Muffet McGraw has done an unbelievable job,” Bluder said. “If you had a Mount Rushmore, Notre Dame is up there right now. They have a great point guard, great center, they have depth, they have people coming off the bench that shoot the ball well, and Arike [Ogunbowale] is putting up astonishing numbers, so I don’t see a whole lot of weaknesses.”
One thing to watch for is how the Hawkeyes’ two defensive-minded freshmen guards, Bre Cera and Kathleen Doyle, shut down the offensive firepower of Notre Dame’s impressive backcourt (sophomores Ogunbowale and Marina Mabrey).
Both are exceptional shooters who will look to stretch the Iowa defense out to get more open room in the paint for post Brianna Turner.
Turner will have the challenge of facing Iowa’s Megan Gustafson, whose recent stellar performance in Cancún gained her all-tournament honors. Gustafson averages 17.6 points per game along with 9.3 rebounds.
Bluder said she thinks this will be Gustafson’s toughest challenge so far, but that will be a good experience for the young sophomore.
The keys to the game for the Hawkeyes will be stopping the penetration from the Notre Dame backcourt. That would slow down and limit opportunities for the high-power Irish offense. Also, whoever gets put on Ogunbowale must focus on closing out hard with a hand in her face at the 3-point line, because so far this season, she is 13-of-21 from deep.
If the Hawkeyes take care of business on the defensive end, there will be open doors the team can enter to possibly keep the game close or even win. But when playing one of the best teams in the country in any sport, someone off the bench must step up and make her name heard.
Look for Hawkeye sophomore Hannah Stewart to come off the bench and affect the game on both ends of the court — she’s consistently been the player Iowa has needed so far this season.
With this being Iowa’s biggest test so far this season, Bluder had a simple message for her team.
“Play to their best every possession in every game and not worry about the scoreboard,” she said. “Look up and see what happens at the end.”
