IOWA CITY, Iowa — Lucy Olsen partly credits Caitlin Clark for the reason she’s at Iowa.
The macro picture is what Clark has done for the sport of women’s basketball that a sizable viewership watched Olsen lead one of the season’s major upsets. The micro is that Clark’s graduation left a void at point guard that longtime assistant and first-year head coach Jan Jensen had to fill. She dove into the transfer portal for Olsen, a three-year starter at Villanova.
It hasn’t been easy. Iowa (15-7, 5-6 Big Ten) entered the year under large expectations because of Clark and her teammates’ historic back-to-back trips to the Final Four. But this isn’t that team. They lost 14 years of experience with the graduations of Clark, Kate Martin and Gabbie Marshall. It’s a new starting five led by a newcomer.
“What’s harder to understand from the outside is when you transfer in as a senior, and you’re a point guard, you’re still very new, and you’re trying to learn it and run it, and there’s a lot that happens in your head,” Jensen said.
Olsen played her best game in an Iowa jersey in a 76-69 upset of No. 4 USC at Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Sunday. She took over in the fourth quarter, scoring 15 of her season-high 28 points as Clark cheered each one from the crowd. An and-one by Olsen in the waning minutes pushed the margin out of reach.
“I think it just takes time sometimes,” Olsen said. “Five new starters. (Sydney Affolter) and Hannah (Stuelke) have been here, but the rest of us needed to learn to play with each other.”
The upset alone won’t push Iowa back into the AP poll. The Hawkeyes lost five straight in January and had only one win against a top-25 team heading into Sunday. That was a six-point victory over rival Iowa State, which has since plummeted out of NCAA tournament consideration, let alone the poll. But it does put Olsen, whose favorite midrange jumper finally hit net consistently in a tight game, and the Hawkeyes on a confident track.
“I think there’s a lot of promise for these next seven games and hopefully, the Big Ten tournament,” Jensen said.
Jensen said she’s under no guise this win will define their season. They have work to do and the bigger picture for Iowa is a foundation for their young players to build back into a national title contender in the pathway of Clark, the reason many of them committed to Iowa. They can still make noise en route to it and create more difficult paths for their Big Ten brethren.
High scorers in the SEC
Vanderbilt freshman Mikayla Blakes and Georgia graduate student Georgia Amoore put on road shows this week. Their scoring performances rank top-five this season.
Blakes scored 53 points in a 99-86 win over Florida on Thursday to break JuJu Watkins’ NCAA freshman scoring record. Watkins scored 51 while shooting 53.8% at Stanford on Feb. 2, 2024. Blakes’ mark is an SEC single-game scoring record regardless of class and a Vanderbilt scoring record. Teammate Khamil Pierre scored 42 on Dec. 16.
Blakes, the No. 8 recruit in the class, is a leading freshman of the year contender along with UConn forward Sarah Strong. Strong is averaging fewer points (17 ppg), but on a better efficiency and more production down the stat sheet (7.8 rpg, 3.6 apg).
Blakes and Pierre are each averaging at least 20 points on the season and shooting at least 47% overall for Vanderbilt (18-5, 5-4 SEC). The team is averaging a seventh-best 85.3 points per game while ranking top-10 in average offensive rebounds and steals. But they’ve fallen short against better opponents and sit in the middle of a large SEC pack.
Amoore scored a career-high 41 to lead Kentucky over then-No. 13 Oklahoma, 95-86, on Sunday. She scored 21 off 3-pointers (7 of 12) for the Wildcats (19-2, 8-1 SEC) and added eight assists. Kentucky, under first-year head coach Kenny Brooks, is competing for seeding in the SEC tournament with South Carolina (21-1, 9-0), LSU (21-1, 8-1) and Texas (22-2, 8-1).
It’s a sharp turnaround from two consecutive losing seasons. Brooks brought with him Amoore, a fifth-year senior who opted to hone her game one more year before leaving for the WNBA, and sophomore Clara Strack. The offense, which is averaging 15 points per game more than a year prior, jumped 64 percentiles in effective field goal percentage (53.1% is in the 95th percentile), 74 percentiles in assist percentage (63.6, 91st), 70 in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.46, 98th) and 56 in block percentage (15.2, 99th).
Heat check incoming
With the calendar reaching February, it’s a race to the conference tournaments and Selection Sunday. The NCAA women’s basketball committee will reveal its top 16 teams as part of “College GameDay” on Feb. 16 and Feb. 27.
The reveals indicate what the group values in ranking teams and how much that plays into the bracket. NET is the foundation of the ranking system, but is not necessarily strictly followed, and new this year on the women’s side is the quadrant-based system determining the quality of wins and losses.
UCLA, South Carolina and Notre Dame are near-locks for the No. 1 seeds. The fourth is unclear after USC’s loss to unranked Iowa. The Trojans can bounce back against Ohio State and rival UCLA — their first of two meetings — before the first reveal.
Texas could slide up into the spot with a 7-2 record in Quad 1 games and solidify it in a key four-game stretch. The Longhorns host Vanderbilt and South Carolina, travel to Kentucky, and host LSU by Feb. 16.
A pack of programs are jostling for those final hosting spots in the top 16. Oklahoma, Ole Miss, Kentucky, NC State, Cal, Georgia Tech and Ohio State all have big weeks coming up.
Games of the week
UConn (21-2, 12-0 Big East) at Tennessee (16-5, 4-5 SEC), Thursday at 5:30 p.m. ET on ESPN — UConn has won all four games since the rivalry Geno Auriemma and Pat Summitt built came off a 13-year hiatus in 2020.
Ohio State (10-1, 9-1 Big Ten) at USC (19-2, 9-1 Big Ten), Saturday at 8 p.m. ET on FOX — Every Big Ten win is crucial now for these two trailing leader UCLA (21-0, 9-0). Michigan State has three losses.
Official AP rankings
1. UCLA
2. South Carolina
3. Notre Dame
4. Texas
5. UConn
6. LSU
7. USC
8. Ohio State
9. TCU
10. Duke
11. Kentucky
12. Kansas State
13. North Carolina
14. NC State
15. Oklahoma
16. Maryland
17. Georgia Tech
18. West Virginia
19. Tennessee
20. Michigan State
21. Cal
22. Florida State
23. Alabama
24. Vanderbilt
25. Oklahoma State
Yahoo Sports ballot
1. UCLA
2. South Carolina
3. Notre Dame
4. Texas
5. UConn
6. LSU
7. TCU
8. Kentucky
9. USC
10. Ohio State
11. Kansas State
12. Duke
13. North Carolina
14. Tennessee
15. Maryland
16. Oklahoma
17. Georgia Tech
18. West Virginia
19. Michigan State
20. N.C. State
21. Michigan
22. Alabama
23. Baylor
24. Florida State
25. Creighton
