The Iowa women’s basketball team was almost on the wrong side of history on Saturday.
No 15-seed has ever beaten a 2-seed in the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament. But for long stretches of time, it looked like Fairleigh Dickinson could be the first. They gave the Hawkeyes everything they could handle, but it was the home team who prevailed with a 58-48 win to keep their season alive.
Despite getting the win, there’s a lot for Jan Jensen’s team to work on before a matchup with Virginia on Monday. Here are some of the biggest takeaways from Iowa surviving a test from FDU.
Iowa’s offense was sloppy
Missed open threes. Careless turnovers. Long scoring droughts. Missed free throws. Iowa’s offense was full of all that on Saturday. It was probably the worst offensive game of the season for the Hawkeyes, and they picked a terrible time for it. Iowa turned it over 14 times, went a dreadful 1-13 from three, and had multiple 5+ minute scoring droughts.
There were so many missed opportunities to put the game out of reach, and Iowa couldn’t take advantage because the offense was so stuck in the mud. There’s going to be some positive regression to the mean when it comes to the number of threes made and turnovers, but Iowa will need to be much, much better on that side of the floor on Monday.
Ava Heiden won the game
Iowa loses this game if Ava Heiden wasn’t as dominant as she was. Point blank, period, end of story. She was excellent early on as Iowa jumped out to an 18-3 lead, and when they needed her most in the fourth, she delivered once again. Heiden finished the game with an incredible 29 points, to go along with seven rebounds, two blocks, and a steal.
She was efficient, 11-16 from the field, serving as the only consistent offensive threat for the team all afternoon. The sophomore center has been so good this season, and she stepped up to save her team’s bacon in the biggest moment. Hopefully, she can get some more help on Monday. The future is bright for Heiden.
There are real concerns with this team
All the flaws exposed in the Big Ten Championship game for this team were evident against Fairleigh Dickinson. The book is out on how to defend Iowa. Pack the paint and make them beat you from three. The Hawkeyes don’t have the shooters to consistently hit shots from behind the arc, and opposing teams and coaches know this.
The key for this team going forward in the tournament will be to mitigate that weakness. They’ll shoot better in the future than they did on Saturday, but it might be time for Jan Jensen to add a few wrinkles to her offense. The Hawkeyes were lucky to survive a game where they played this poorly. If Iowa plays as it did on Saturday again, it won’t be as lucky.
Contact/Follow us @HawkeyesWire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Iowa news, notes, and opinions. Follow Zach on X: @zach_hiney
This article originally appeared on Hawkeyes Wire: Takeaways as Iowa women’s basketball survives test from FDU
