Iowa women’s basketball hosted its final open practice of the summer to the media on Thursday morning.
Here are some of the best quotes we heard:
Head coach Jan Jensen on how she’s seen her team click to this point:
“I thought we didn’t maybe end up making as many shots today, but they were good shots. We’re understanding if you do X and Y Z should happen, and I just think they’re playing off of each other a little bit better.”
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Jensen on how she’s challenged sophomore center Layla Hays this summer:
“What I’ve challenged her with is like you’re not a placeholder. I want you to change the game coming in. I don’t want it to have anything to do with Ava needing rest or foul trouble. Can we change the game? And that’s where I want her mentality to be.”
Hays on how the coaching staff has challenged her:
“I had my end-of-season meetings, and there’s a lot of things that you go over, and just them putting that confidence into me makes it me want to work harder. It makes me want to be in the gym more and all that.”
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Does it feel like you have two go-to scorers with Ava [Heiden] and Dani [Carnegie]?
Jensen: “They’re just bucket getters, people that just have a sense at the end of a shot clock. They don’t even have to like even necessarily look up. They just know when a play’s got to be made, and and Dani has that gene. We have had skilled players last year, but the the understanding of that, the wanting of that-that was maybe not a strength. We just need maybe a little bit more time to get it there. But I think that’s what I’m really excited about.”
Dani Carnegie on playing for Georgia at Carver-Hawkeye Arena during the NCAA tournament:
“It was stunning for real because UGA is big on football there, so it was stunning, and I just love how they support women, how they support in basketball. I just love it, and I was like, one day I’ll be there for sure.”
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What’s been the biggest support system for highly-touted freshman McKenna Woliczko so far?
“Honestly, just my teammates, like the things, the things they do, the things they say. I just obviously there’s six new people here, so everyone here is new. But the fact that the five people that have stayed have just been so supportive and helpful is just awesome. And me and Bria [Medina] are the two new people to Division-I basketball, so we’re facing the quicker and more challenging atmosphere. But so far, everyone’s just made it feel mentally easier.
HawkeyeRoundtable is giving away TWO tickets to Iowa’s season opener against Northern Illinois on Sept. 5!
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HawkeyeRoundtable publisher Brad Schultz has covered the Iowa Hawkeyes since 2023. To send him story ideas, scoops, or criticize his writing, reach him at bradschultz@roundtable.io
