Iowa Basketball

Iowa fell behind by 17 in the second half, pulled within four, but then Auburn pulled away again for an 83-75 win in the first round of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament.

Hannah Stuelke has been in the spotlight for Iowa women’s basketball as she gives the Hawkeyes “what we haven’t had.”

The third-ranked Hawkeyes “don’t think there’s a ceiling” in the NCAA women’s basketball tournament. “Our potential is as far as we want to go.” Iowa opens Friday with a first-round game against NCAA rookie Southeastern Louisiana.

The Iowa women’s basketball team prepared for Friday’s first-round NCAA tournament game against Southeastern Louisiana with an open practice and press conference at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City on Thursday.

Former Iowa assistant coach Bruce Pearl has won a lot and had a three-year exile from coaching. Here he is 31 years after leaving Iowa, facing the Hawkeyes as Auburn head coach in the NCAA tournament Thursday.

Joe Toussaint’s West Virginia team beat Iowa’s Thursday foe, Auburn. The Mountaineers face Maryland, a club the Hawkeyes know well.

Women’s basketball: Iowa’s Caitlin Clark is a unanimous AP first-team All-American for the second straight year.

Cedar Rapids native Katie Abrahamson-Henderson will coach her 12th NCAA women’s basketball tournament team (at four different schools) when Georgia faces Florida State on Friday at Iowa City.