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No. 22 Iowa 69, Rhode Island 62: Olsen “game-to-game” after a knee injury

No. 22 Iowa 69, Rhode Island 62: Olsen “game by game” after a knee injury

Iowa survived an unusual (but minor) point guard injury before the game Lucy Olsen fend off an angry offer Rhode Island, 69-62in the Cancun Challenge game in Mexico. Addison O’Grady led the Hawkeyes with 18 points on 8-for-9 shooting and Hannah Stülke 13 points added.

According to the head coach, Olsen, a senior transfer from Villanova who led the Hawkeyes with 17 points per game this season, suffered a deep gash in her knee after tripping on the court during practice Jan Jensen. Olsen was officially listed as questionable, but missed Thursday’s game and is considered a game-changer by the team.

“We were just getting ready for practice,” Jensen said. “Lucy just tripped, then came off the ground and hit a ledge. She had a fairly large wound on her knee. Luckily we had some team documents with us and they took care of them.” Olsen is considered play-by-play.

1. Backcourt by (ad hoc) committee. Olsen’s season is not in jeopardy due to the injury to her knee, but Iowa’s backfield, already working from behind due to inexperience and lack of practice, surely There was no need for its main scorer and presenter to be down for a long time.

“We finished with 22 turnovers, which is a bit too much,” said assistant coach Raina Harmon. “To have some players who don’t have a lot of experience playing out of position in Cancun, at the point guard position, against the press… that’s not something to be expected from anyone.”

Real newbie Taylor Stremlow On Saturday, Olsen made her first career start in Olsen’s place – in character for the fearless freshman, but ultimately out of position, and it showed as she led Iowa with six of her 22 turnovers.

“We haven’t faced any pressure all year,” Jensen said. “Their pressure was OK, but it wasn’t what we expected. As far as scouting goes, I’m sure people will be licking their fingers. A lot of what we did was rushed, and we just didn’t get to our right places.

It’s particularly ironic that a true freshman who was cleared for full practice less than a week ago is the stabilizing force for a backcourt, but is still 15 crucial minutes away Aaliyah Guyton kept the Hawkeyes moving through the turbulence.

“Since Aaliyah only played three minutes in a college game, tonight she comes in and plays almost 15,” Harmon said. “The kid is fearless, and that’s why I recruited her.”

Guyton, who made her season debut in Iowa’s 72-43 win on Sunday, came off the bench and tallied seven points and two assists, along with a steal and a block, in Thursday’s win to cement her defensive credentials in Peoria. Illinois. She also made the first basket of her college career on Thursday – her first two, actually a pair of threes in a row that helped Iowa regain a 40-37 lead in the turbulent third quarter.

“From the top of the key, they didn’t guard her at all,” Harmon said. “For me that was the turning point of the game.”

Stremlow did more than well as an emergency starter — she led the team with four assists and is unlikely to repeat a night with six turnovers — but it could be up to Jensen to cycle some seniors like that Kylie Feuerbach or Taylor McCabe from the 2 to Olsen can return.

While Stremlow’s scoreless exit isn’t a problem, her zero rebounds, steals or blocks are more indicative of what Iowa lacked in personnel movement, and that was almost as evidently absent from the identity of Iowa’s game on Thursday as Olsen’s direction of the team’s offense. Iowa will either have to find a way to unlock her playmaking ability from the perimeter or live without her until Olsen can return.

2. Addison Ave. Iowa trailed 26-25 at halftime for the first time this season after a listless six-point second quarter. The Hawkeyes’ main problems: ball control and an inability to get the ball to O’Grady, who went into the locker room with just two points on 1-for-2 shooting.

“I really pushed our post players at halftime,” Jensen said. “The other post players pushed us into the background and we were outmaneuvered. We wanted to line up at the lane line, and when they pushed us off the block – that’s not a foul, we didn’t hold our floor – we could never get a post-entry pass because we were about three feet away from the guard are.

The Hawkeyes went to O’Grady for their first three baskets of the second half, part of a 16-point second half with 7-for-7 shooting for the rising senior. O’Grady led the team with 18 points, as well as her three blocks on defense as she continues to make progress on that end of the court as well.

Iowa’s inability to get the post game going in the first half was tied to a torrid 50-point pace. Of course, the team lacked Olsen’s scoring prowess, but that was still missing in the second half when they already scored 44 points. O’Grady’s +14 accounted for most of Iowa’s +19 halftime increase in scoring, in a seven-point win that’s the difference between a narrow win and a shocking upset loss.

As Iowa took control of the game 12-0, O’Grady didn’t just join in the run, she led it. After checking in at the start of the fourth quarter, O’Grady made the following statement:

– Assisted Stuelke for Iowa’s first basket

– Layup for Iowa’s second basket (assist by Syd Affolter)

– Layup for Iowa’s third basket (after a turnover, assisted by Stuelke)

– Layup for Iowa’s fourth basket (fast break assist from Affolter)

– Fifth rebound of the day

– two free throws for Iowa’s ninth and tenth points

O’Grady then exited at 5:57 after scoring or assisting on all ten of Iowa’s points on the run, a four-minute virtuoso performance (or whatever the Cancun equivalent would be).

3. Queens under pressure. “Even before Lucy was injured, I was preaching (to the players) that this is what these Island Games are like hardJensen said. “Everyone has to deal with the sun, with the fun, that’s not the reality. “Because we’re a relatively young team, we have to come in and have the focus.”

This focus couldn’t have come at a better time. Not only did Iowa’s 12-0 run give Iowa its largest lead of the game at 61-49, but the Rams didn’t break it until 3:23 left to play, and time constraints didn’t allow them to get closer than six the rest of the way .

That’s the equivalent of 7:21 of playing time if you hold an opponent scoreless in the second half and turn a tie into a game where you have some breathing room, like you want in paradise.

“Being able to hold a team like Rhode Island to 62 points when our offense isn’t working, it kind of becomes the identity of that team – getting it on defense,” Harmon said.

(Photo by Hawkeye Beacon)

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After O’Grady went out near the end of Iowa’s run, Ava Heiden came into the game, who immediately scored an athletic layup after an assist from Guyton, extending Iowa’s lead to 12, its highest of the game.

“Ava came in and did some nice things,” Jensen said. “She established herself really low.”

These are two freshmen putting the exclamation point on a game-winning run – and neither of them was expected to start at point guard and lead the team in assists within hours.

Were there speed bumps and missteps in the first three quarters that caused a fair amount of adversity early on? For sure, and that’s part of adjusting to the college game.

“I don’t know how many times we had three freshmen there tonight,” said Jensen, who played a total of 56 minutes against four freshmen on Thursday. “I am confident that the newcomers have now overcome their nervousness better and will emerge even stronger and more confident tomorrow.”

O’Grady was a little more candid.

“If they make a stupid mistake, we just tell them to shake it off, that’s fine,” she said. “We know they’re going to do some of those, so we’re just prepared for that and encourage them that they’ll do a good job next game.”

Of course, it’s worth noting that this was Rhode Island, a 28-point underdog. 5-1 BYU threatens Friday and – if Olsen is limited, and Perhaps even if it’s not them – the Cougars could have the best playmaking threat on the field.

That would be G Delaney Gibbwho averages nearly 18 points per game as well as five rebounds and five assists per game for the Cougars. Gibb can block the three with a strike rate of nearly 38%, and she steals a game from her Robin opponents with a strike rate of 1.5. Mauricently had 20 points and five three-pointers in a 63-51 win over Rice early Thursday in Cancun. Will they continue this fever pitch Friday night, or will Iowa’s undefeated season remain alive?

Tipoff takes place Friday night at 8 p.m. Central (coinciding with the second half of Iowa-Nebraska football) and will once again be streamed on FloSports for the very real price of a monthly subscription of $19.99, although the Hawkeye radio show is always is available on YouTube as well.

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