Hawkeyes’ mission against Penn State’s press: Make it go away

IOWA CITY — Buckle up, Hawkeyes. Here comes the press.

No. 12 Iowa (13-4 overall, 5-1 Big Ten) begins a three-game stretch against opponents that like to get in your grill, from baseline to baseline.

“It’s nice that the next three are very similar,” Iowa Coach Lisa Bluder said. “It’s nice that we play them all in a row.”

It starts Saturday against Penn State (11-6, 2-4). Tipoff is 11:30 a.m. at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

It continues with a pair of road tests against Michigan State (Wednesday) and No. 3 Ohio State (Jan. 23).

Penn State opponents are averaging 21.9 turnovers per game.

“Their press rate is 33 percent. That’s the highest we’ve seen all year,” Bluder said. “They use a variety of presses. They’re always trapping, trying to create havoc.”

That creates a test for Iowa’s Caitlin Clark and Molly Davis. It also creates an opportunity.

“If you can break the press, you can usually score pretty well,” Bluder said.

Clark is averaging 2.05 assists per turnover this season. Davis is at 1.48.

“We feel good about (press preparation),” Bluder said. “Our goal is to make them take it off and force them to go to Plan B.”

The Hawkeyes enter with strong performances in two consecutive games. They went to then-No. 14 Michigan and won 94-85 a week ago, then dusted Northwestern in a 93-64 rout Wednesday.

Cedar Rapids native Hannah Stuelke continues to climb the depth chart. She is the top backup for McKenna Warnock at the ‘4,’ and has emerged as Monika Czinano’s backup at the ‘5.’

“We’ve been waiting for one of the (other centers) — A.J. (Ediger), Addison (O’Grady) and Sharon (Goodman) — to rise. All three of them are even,” Bluder said. “Hannah has gone ahead of all of them.”

Stuelke posted 17 points and nine rebounds, in only 14 minutes, against Northwestern.

A 5-foot-11 senior guard, Makenna Marisa paces Penn State at 18.4 points per game.

“She has a scorer’s mentality,” Bluder said, adding that Gabbie Marshall will spend most of her defensive effort guarding Marisa. “She’s always looking to score. She has all of the boxes checked as an offensive player.”

Penn State started the season 7-0, but has lost six of its last 10.

“They’ve been kind of a mixed bag, up and down,” Bluder said. “Against Nebraska (an 80-51 loss Wednesday), they never got in rhythm. They didn’t shoot well, and when you don’t shoot well, bad things usually happen.”

Comments: jeff.linder@thegazette.com