New-but-familiar Hawkeye basketball women are off to old, familiar start and winning big

IOWA CITY -- How does a basketball program turn the page after the best story in its history?

Well, you just do. It isn’t as if Iowa was left with a rusted-out pickup truck, a broken washing machine and a lot of weeds in its front lawn after the departure of iconic Caitlin Clark. Not to mention WNBA player Kate Martin and another vital player for the two-time national runners-up, Gabbie Marshall.

Junior forward Hannah Stuelke is a pressure-tested veteran of those last two seasons, a player who scored 22 points against Connecticut in the Hawkeyes’ national semifinal win several months ago.

Senior wing Sydney Affolter played mega-minutes and averaged 12.2 points over Iowa’s six NCAA tourney games in 2024.

Center Addison O’Grady came off the bench to give the Hawkeyes 15 good minutes against Angel Reese and LSU in the Sweet 16. She is averaging 13.3 points in the early going.

Kylie Feuerbach and Taylor McCabe, rotation players for the 2024-25 Hawkeyes, got battled-tested with dozens and dozens of practices against Clark and company. McCabe knocked down four 3-pointers Wednesday and may make 10 in a game some night.

Wednesday night, the familar-but-different Hawkeyes rocketed past Toledo at Carver-Hawkeye Arena, 94-57. This isn’t Iowa 2023-24 or 2022-23. This unranked team, however, be much better than some expected.

“When the rankings came out, we talked about it,” Stuelke said. “Lucy (Olsen) texted me right away. We were like ‘Yeah, that’s not going to cut it.’ so I think it gave us a little fuel for the fire.”

It isn’t as if a lot of Stuelkes floating around the college game. She’s a talent, one that appears to be playing with more confidence and fluidity than ever before. She’s healthier this season, too.

Toledo certainly could do nothing with the junior from Cedar Rapids, who had just six field goal tries, but still scored 17 points.

A 46 percent foul shooter as a freshman and 62.9 percenter last season, Stuelke was 9-of-9 from the line against Toledo to get to 16-of-18 through three games. Her stroke is better than it’s ever been, and that’s a pretty big deal for someone who will get fouled a lot this season.

“I’ve been working on it such a long time,” said Stuelke, “and now it’s finally coming together. I think it’s really awesome.”

Feuerbach, McCabe and O’Grady appear to all be enjoying their new world of being more focal to their team’s success. Affolter, working her way back into form after recovering from a surgical scope of a knee, simply is a very good and aggressive player.

Add senior guard Olsen, who had 14 points against the Rockets and averaged 23 at Villanova last season, and you have plenty of players before even getting to the freshmen who already are contributing.

The bad news for the Hawkeyes is they don’t get to sneak up on anyone though they lost 61 points and 15 assists per game to graduation. It’s still “Iowa” on the names of the Hawkeyes’ jerseys, and it means something to defeat Iowa.

“That’s the thing I keep trying to caution our players about,” Iowa Coach Jan Jensen said. “What (opponents) see is the team that was in the NCAA championship games back-to-back. What they see is all the highlights that happened the last two years.

“We’re going to get everybody’s best shot.”

Still, there isn’t a Hollywood-type spotlight on the Hawkeyes this season. Jason Sudeikis isn’t likely to fly in here anytime this winter.

The way Iowa performed in Charlotte, N.C., Sunday in its 71-52 win against a Virginia Tech that was a 25-game winner last season was an indicator the Hawkeyes still have plenty of grit. Wednesday, the Hawkeyes didn’t mess around against Toledo and got all sorts of high-percentage shots.

With room to breathe and a platform to show their skills, this season’s Hawkeyes seem to be in high spirits with the potential to win plenty of games. They may make their fans very glad that they’ve bought out the arena for a second-straight season.

Comments: (319) 398-8440; mike.hlas@thegazette.com