Iowa’s Hannah Stuelke prepares for South Carolina’s Kamilla Cardoso
The Hawkeye sophomore is coming off a 23-point game against UConn in which she shot 9-for-12 from the floor. She spoke to media Saturday.
CLEVELAND − In the titanic women’s basketball matchup that was billed as “Caitlin vs. Paige,” the best player on the floor Friday night was Iowa’s Hannah Stuelke.
The 6-foot-2 sophomore has been the Hawkeyes’ wild-card, high-upside player all year long. We know what we will get from Caitlin Clark, Kate Martin and Gabbie Marshall night in and night out. But Stuelke is the player who scored 47 points in a game against Penn State. When she is at her best, the Hawkeyes become almost unbeatable.
While Clark (21 points, 7-for-18 shooting) and UConn’s Paige Bueckers (17 points, 7-for-17 shooting) were held below their normal stat lines, it was Stuelke’s game-high 23 points that were the difference in Friday’s 71-69 Iowa win against the 11-time national champion Huskies. With her best brand of aggressiveness, Stuelke strung together 11 third-quarter points to help Iowa rally from down 12 to force a 51-51 tie entering the decisive fourth quarter.
What got into Stuelke on Friday?
“I don’t know that I plan do to that some games, but I feel like I need to be more like that,” Stuelke said Saturday afternoon at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, about 24 hours before Sunday’s showdown with South Carolina. “I should probably be like that all the time. Sometimes something comes over me, and I just get in that mindset.”
What a quote. And it’s something Iowa coaches and players will try to tap into Sunday.
When told of what Stuelke said, Martin loved it.
“I think more than anything it’s a mental game for Hannah,” said Martin, who reiterated her future goals to become a coach someday (and she sure sounded like one Saturday). “I believe in her so much. I think she’s one of the best players in the country. She’s got to believe that in herself. So, if she’s saying that, I’m pretty excited. I think she’s going to come out tomorrow and bring it.”
As Martin alluded to, there’s no bigger stage for Stuelke to demonstrate how her game has grown than Sunday’s national championship between Iowa (34-4) and South Carolina (37-0). The top two overall seeds in the NCAA Tournament will clash at 2 p.m. CT on ABC, with only one cutting down the nets in downtown Cleveland.
South Carolina has been a juggernaut all season, and the centerpiece of an incredibly deep roster is 6-foot-7 center Kamilla Cardoso, who scored 22 points with 11 rebounds in Friday’s 78-59 rout of North Carolina State while playing just 23 minutes.
Stuelke feels like playing against LSU’s Angel Reese on Monday night in the Elite Eight helped prepare her for this showdown, despite now giving up five inches to Cardoso. Stuelke was limited by foul trouble vs. LSU and Reese wound up with 17 points and 20 rebounds in Iowa’s 94-87 win. Stuelke knows she needs to be better in this moment.
“Obviously, Cardoso is an amazing player,” Stuelke said. “I think it will be a big challenge for me, but staying physical and boxing out are my most important jobs, as they are every single game.”
But while Iowa must prepare for Cardoso, South Carolina coach Dawn Staley knows that her team must counter Stuelke – the ultimate X factor for the Hawkeyes.
“Stuelke is … a matchup that we’ve got to win,” Staley said. “Like, we’ve got to win that one. … I mean, she puts you back on your heels. We certainly have to use our length. We’ve got to make her play through us, and she doesn’t mind that at all.
“On the flip side of that, we have to make her guard us. She’s going to have to guard not one, not two, not three, four. We’ve got four or five legitimate post players that she’s going to see and have to guard, and they all are different.”
For example, 6-3 forward Ashlyn Watkins had 20 rebounds vs. North Carolina State in 29 minutes.
“Hannah, let’s keep riding that high,” Iowa head coach Lisa Bluder said. “She knows she can do it now. Every challenge gets bigger.
“We’re going to keep pouring into her. We’re going to keep telling her that we believe in her.”
Kate Martin: South Carolina is a ‘way different team’ than last year
The sixth-year Iowa senior also gives Hannah Stuelke some encouraging words heading into Sunday’s NCAA championship game.
Gabbie Marshall on national title game: “We’re going to leave it all out on the court.”
Gabbie Marshall on national title game: “We’re going to leave it all out on the court.”
Hawkeyes trying to rest, recover to prepare for final
Stuelke was randomly drug tested after the game by the NCAA, like Martin was a year ago after Iowa beat South Carolina. Stuelke did not get to sleep until about 2:30 a.m. Iowa’s Sydney Affolter confessed she barely slept because of the adrenaline from the UConn win and woke up early because that’s how her body clock works. Asked how much sleep she got, Martin humorously replied, “enough.”
Fatigue and soreness could be a factor in Sunday’s championship game. Iowa’s matchup against UConn didn’t end until almost midnight ET, with all five starters playing at least 37 minutes – and Marshall, Affolter and Caitlin Clark playing 39-plus. Meantime, none of South Carolina’s players were used for more than 29 minutes in its semifinal win that was clinched by outscoring North Carolina State, 29-6, in the third quarter.
Additionally, Clark appeared to turn her ankle on a four-point play in the second half Friday. Martin got clocked in the nose and left for blood time (it wasn’t broken, she said). Affolter and Marshall were knocked to the floor multiple times, and Marshall was hobbling at some points in the Friday game.
“It was so, so physical. I think the refs let us play a bit,” Affolter said.
Iowa’s quick turnaround from Friday night to Sunday afternoon didn’t go great against LSU a year ago, in a 102-85 title-game loss. Iowa got blitzed in the second quarter of that game.
Bluder thinks the Hawkeyes have learned from that experience.
“(Recovery) is one of the things I learned last year … is that scouting reports are really good to look at and to read and memorize at this point,” Bluder said, “but not so much to go on the floor with.”
Iowa guard Sydney Affolter previews title game matchup vs. South Carolina
Iowa guard Sydney Affolter previews title game matchup vs. South Carolina.
A different game plan this year vs. Gamecocks
Speaking of the scouting report on South Carolina, that one belongs to Jenni Fitzgerald, a longtime Bluder aide and current special assistant to the head coach. Fitzgerald had the scout last year for South Carolina when the Hawkeyes dared the Gamecocks to shoot from deep while trying to protect the interior. That remains South Carolina’s only loss in its last 80 games.
But, Iowa can’t go back to the 2023 well on this one. This year’s South Carolina team shoots 39.5% from 3-point range. That’s better than the 37.6% for Iowa, which leads the country in scoring at 91.4 points per game.
“They’re a way better shooting team than they were last year,” Martin said. “Putting four or five people in the paint isn’t really an option this year.”
Bluder called South Carolina “the best women’s basketball team we’ve seen.” Iowa associate head coach Jan Jensen, who is eternally positive, knows the challenge is steep. South Carolina is listed as a 6½-point favorite.
“We’re just going to go for it,” Jensen said. “Coach Fitz again has a great game plan. She’s been watching them all season long. We’ll try to stick to it. They’re going to have to be a little cold. We’ll have to be a little hot. But hey, it’s March Madness. It just takes one game.”
What will Caitlin Clark do in her finale?
Apart from this story, there are articles on Gabbie Marshall’s drawn foul … on injured Molly Davis’ hopes for playing a few seconds in her final game … and on the women’s basketball record 14.2 million viewers that ESPN drew for Iowa vs. UConn on Friday night. Those things underscore the total draw of this Hawkeye team that goes beyond one player.
Caitlin Clark previews Iowa vs. South Carolina national championship
Iowa women’s basketball’s Caitlin Clark talks to the media ahead of the Hawkeyes’ national championship game against South Carolina.
Clark is hardly an afterthought, but the fact that the NCAA Division I’s all-time scoring leader will be playing her final game in a championship did seem to be a secondary story on Saturday.
But she’s got a way of finding her way back to the spotlight. Remember, she scored 41 of Iowa’s 77 points against South Carolina last year. What she has in store in her final 40 minutes of college ball will be fascinating to watch.
“I don’t want this to end, whether it’s with a win or with a loss,” Clark said. “I think the biggest thing is you have that little fire inside of you. It’s been the same throughout my entire career. I’ve had some tough losses, and I think those are the moments that have prepared me for right now for this opportunity.
“At the end of the day, it’s a game of basketball. You give it everything you’ve got, but I have a lot of appreciation for the way our team has carried ourselves and all the stuff that we’ve established, and we’re going to give it everything we can to be able to go out there and be able to hoist the trophy tomorrow.”
This will also be the final Iowa game for Martin and Marshall, who both have started every game they’ve played the last four seasons along with Clark. The end of many eras in Iowa women’s basketball is near.
But there are still 40 more minutes left.
“I’ve given my heart and soul to this program and these girls and I know they’ve done the same,” Marshall said. “I’m gonna leave it all out there. I’m gonna give 100%, 110%. Do whatever I can to help my team to win.”
Hawkeyes columnist Chad Leistikow has served for 29 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 Twitter.