Many were expecting the No. 4 Iowa Hawkeyes to go the easy way and roundly defeat Loyola Chicago before Christmas. Ultimately, that is what happened, with the Hawkeyes winning 98-69. But, the visiting Ramblers made them go the hard way.
Throughout much of the first half, the Hawkeyes were forced to play at a much slower pace. The Ramblers took it to them by doing everything it took to slow things down and over power with strong defense. As a result, the Hawkeyes turned the ball over on 10 occasions in the first half, mostly in transition. They also weren’t making the shots that they normally would, whereas the Ramblers were shooting close to 50 percent from the field and were decent from the 3-point line as the Hawkeye defense was sagging.
However, the Hawkeyes came alive in the second half, outscored the Ramblers 46-23 for the convincing but hard-fought victory.
The win was in large part due to the efforts of the following four:
Caitlin Clark
Before the eyes of the Indiana Fever coaching staff that were in attendance, Clark came away with another triple double: 35 points, 17 rebounds and 10 assists. She also surpassed Minnesota’s Rachel Banham for eighth on the NCAA all-time scoring list.
After the game, she took off her “reverse grinch” Nike shoes that she…
