Caitlin Clark is not walking through those doors
The Minnesota Golden Gophers women’s basketball team will look to right the ship after a tough weekend in Southern California. Minnesota returns to Williams Arena on Thursday night to host the Iowa Hawkeyes who have reeled a bit without Caitlin Clark in their lineup this season. But Iowa comes in after an upset win over #4 USC last Sunday in the game where they retires Clark’s number. This game could potentially be huge for Big Ten Tournament seeding, so both teams want it badly.
Minnesota faced by far their toughest weekend of the season dropping games to #4 USC and #1 UCLA last weekend. Minnesota played the Trojans tough but didn’t have enough gas down the stretch as USC pulled away for a 82-69 win. On Sunday the Gophers crossed A to Westwood to face #1 and undefeated UCLA. They Gophers played a great first half and only trailed the Bruins by five at halftime. But again, the UCLA depth took over and outgunned the Gophers in the second half cruising to a 79-53 victory. Minnesota now sits at 6-5 in Big Ten play, good enough for 10th in the conference tied with the Michigan Wolverines.
Minnesota is still spreading their scoring around with three active players in double figures and a fourth averaging 9.9 points per game. Grace Grocholski leads the active players on the team at 11.9 points per game with Amaya Battle right behind at 11.6
That’s one game better than Iowa who comes into The Barn on Thursday night with a 5-6 record in Big Ten play tied with Washington for 12th place. Iowa has struggled to adapt to life without Caitlin Clark, and without former head coach Lisa Bluder who retired after the season. Longtime assistant Jan Jensen took over but has not had the same immediate success that Bluder had with Clark.
The Hawkeyes got would could be a season changing win last Sunday in Iowa City when they upset #4 USC 76-69. It was a full Carver-Hawkeye Arena as Iowa retired Caltlin Clark’s #22. Iowa has followed a five-game losing streak by winning their last three in a row and shooting up the conference standings.
Iowa has had to find new scoring threats with Clark’s graduation and they hit the portal to find a few. Lucy Olsen came to Iowa City from Villanova where she ranked third in the country in scoring at 23.3 points per game. This season for the Hawkeyes she is averaging 16.4 points per game to lead the team while also averaging nearly five assists per game. Iowa returns a few players from last years team that are thriving in bigger roles. Hannah Stulke is averaging 13.4 points per game and post player Addision O’Grady is averaging 12.2 points per game while shooting 66.7% from the field—good enough for third in the nation.
Minnesota will look to try and snap a ten game losing streak against the Hawkeyes. To do that the Gopher defense is going to need to be relentless for all four quarters. Iowa ranks #20 nationally and second in the conference shooting 46.8%. If the Gophers give up open shots, the game will not go well. They will need to force turnovers and take advantage on the offensive end. Iowa averages nearly 17 turnovers per game, so the opportunity is there for Minnesota.
Tip is scheduled for 7 PM and the game will air live on Big Ten Network.