Coming off a near upset, No. 2 seed Iowa faces 10th seed Virginia in women's NCAA Tournament
Iowa had a recovery plan after surviving Saturday’s near upset in the first round of the women’s NCAA Tournament
By JOHN BOHNENKAMPIOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Iowa had a recovery plan after surviving Saturday’s near upset in the first round of the women's
The Hawkeyes, the No. 2 seed in Sacramento Regional 4, but it didn’t take long for them to shake that off and start getting ready for Monday’s second-round game against 10th-seeded Virginia.
Senior forward Hannah Stuelke said the Hawkeyes started watching video of the Cavaliers on Saturday night, quickly putting behind them what happened in the afternoon.
“I think we know the importance of moving on,” Stuelke said.
The Hawkeyes (27-6) nearly became the first 2 seed to fall to a 15 seed since the women's bracket expanded to 64 teams. Now they get the Cavaliers (21-11), who have two wins in the tournament — they beat Arizona State in the First Four on Thursday before in overtime on Saturday.
“Playing three games, you want to be playing in March, so it doesn’t matter,” Virginia coach Amaka Agugua-Hamilton said. “If we had to play every day, we would. They’re not tired. I tell them that all the time. I say that in the summertime or even in preseason. ‘Come in, you’re not tired.’ Nobody’s tired in March, that’s for sure.”
The Hawkeyes did their best to recover from Saturday’s game, which was played in temperatures recorded at 90 degrees Fahrenheit because Carver-Hawkeye Arena is not air-conditioned.
“I think that we have a lot of tools at our disposal that we can use,” said center Ava Heiden, who had a career-high 29 points on Saturday. “I went in the hot and cold tub yesterday. Iowa was gracious enough to give us massages, so we were able to get those this morning.”
While the players were recovering, coach Jan Jensen was watching video of the first-round game. What stood out was what the Hawkeyes need to do from a mental standpoint.
“They are very sensitive,” Jensen said. “When they feel like they’re letting me down or their teammates down or the fan base down, that’s when they kind of get in trouble. It’s a beautiful trait, but it’s not great when you’ve just got to kick you-know-what.”
The Cavaliers, who have been in Iowa City since Wednesday, have been enjoying team-bonding activities during their free time.
“We had tables set up in the team room,” said guard Kymora Johnson, the Cavaliers’ leading scorer at 19.3 points per game. “We had coloring books out for the people who just wanted to be quiet and color. We had a Skittles game where you had to separate all the Skittles by color. It was getting really intense.”
Virginia hadn’t played in two weeks since losing to Clemson in the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament.
“I challenged them quite a bit during that week (after the tournament), but we also did some team bonding so we could come together and understand that when we hit adversity, we can’t go our separate ways,” Agugua-Hamilton said.
A sellout crowd of more than 14,000 is expected for the early afternoon tipoff, and parking may be the biggest issue.
Carver-Hawkeye Arena is west of the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, and parking lots around the arena are used for hospital employees as well as the nearby dental school. Fans have been encouraged to park farther away and use the university’s bus system to get to the arena.
Iowa was on spring break last week, but classes resume Monday. The afternoon start will cause some problems for a few of the Hawkeyes.
“I’m going to have to miss a class,” guard Taylor Stremlow said. “Just one, but I think others have a couple.”
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