STORRS, Conn. — The 10th-ranked Iowa women’s basketball team is heading on the road for the first time this season for its first big test: a Sunday afternoon matchup against No. 2 UConn.
The Huskies (1-1) are taking on their second straight ranked opponent. They lost 77-66 at No. 5 Michigan on Nov. 5.
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The Wolverines’ highest-ranked victory snapped UConn’s regular-season winning streak at 39.
Iowa (2-0) enters the Nov. 8 game with two wins under its belt — a 73-45 season-opening victory over Towson and a 80-39 success over Eastern Illinois on Nov. 5.
In the win over Eastern Illinois, freshman McKenna Woliczko led Iowa with 21 points. Ava Heiden added 15 and Dani Carnegie had 12.
“It’s crazy to say this, I think they’re as complete of a team as they’ve been in a long time,” Iowa coach Jan Jensen said of the Huskies. “They are just a really great team.”
Jensen said after the Eastern Illinois game that she was eager to review UConn’s film and the matchup in Storrs will be a “tremendous challenge.”
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“Now this team, who they’ve gotten as young kids? Boy, (Jovana) Popovic? Their freshman, she’s something,” Jensen said. “They got a good young post player (Olivia Vukosa), Big O is her nickname. They bring an incredible power forward off the bench that I think Geno (Auriemma) hopes is their second-leading scorer, and then you’ve got Sarah Strong.”
Jensen said the Hawkeyes tried to recruit Vukosa before she chose UConn. In the loss against Michigan, Vukosa had eight points and five rebounds off the bench.
Popovic led the Huskies with 25 points against Michigan. Strong was next with 13, and she led UConn with eight rebounds.
Iowa is getting after it early, with four games from Nov. 2-12. Jensen and her staff are trying to rest their players as much as possible while getting the necessary preparation for UConn.
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No Hawkeye played more than 26 minutes against Eastern Illinois.
“Our coaches have to be smart with pace,” Jensen said. “You might want to really stick on a drill because you don’t like it, and all of a sudden you’re now on that drill for 12 minutes when you wanted to be on it for six or eight, and you just don’t have that luxury.”
Jensen said the emphasis for Iowa will be on its defensive play against the Huskies. UConn has players who can score from all over the court, and the Huskies have size.
Oh, and the last time they lost back-to-back games? 2023 (South Carolina and Marquette).
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“These teams (Towson and Eastern Illinois) have been inferior to us, and I don’t mean that arrogantly, but I mean they aren’t a UConn,” Jensen said of the competition so far. “I love our emphasis and intensity on defense. So regardless of who we’re playing tonight, last week, or UConn, if we keep that type of tenacity, that’s what it’s going to take to go into an environment of arguably one of the most successful dynasties that our sport has seen.”
McKenna Woliczko said she believes the key to winning the game will be in “blue-collar plays” — gritty, hard-nosed plays that may not show up on the scoresheet but are just as important.
“We’re always putting in extra effort and energy and diving on the floor,” Woliczko said. “We try to get at least four blue-collar plays a game.”
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: No. 10 Iowa women’s basketball ready for first big test: at No. 2 UConn
