One thing wasn’t off. “I mean, I thought our defense was great,” Michigan women's basketball head coach Kim Barnes Arico said. That’s the thing about her team. The effort is always there, and it showed on the defensive side of the ball. But unfortunately, you have to put the ball in the hoop, too. Barnes Arico summarized this: “We just couldn’t score, and they forced us into some turnovers in the first half.”
Cold shooting
The numbers synopsize the story. As a team, Michigan women's basketball shot 18-59 for 30.5% from the floor, whereas their season average is 47%. Season leading scorers sophomore Olivia Olson had 13 pts on 6-16 shooting, sophomore Syla Swords had 7 on 3-11 (1-6 from 3 pt), and sophomore Milla Holloway had 11 on 4-10. Iowa’s defense was OK, keeping Michigan in front of them, shutting down the lane, and cleaning up the defensive boards, holding Michigan to one shot. But the one thing Iowa did well was transition defense, holding U-M to zero fast break points.
Weakness magnified
Of Iowa’s 62 points, 40 came from inside. Led by 6’4” sophomore Ava Heiden with 24 points. Exacerbating things, Michigan women's basketball's primary interior defender, 6’3” sophomore Ashley Sofilkanich, got her second foul early in the second period and sat for the rest of the half. The Wolverines' lack of inside defensive presence has been mitigated by their ball pressure, but Iowa was careful, turning it over only 18 times (24 for Michigan).
Battling for the #2 Seed
With UCLA as #1 seed, below are the teams competing to be on the other side of the bracket.
- Iowa (13-3, 2nd): hosts Illinois (9-7, 8th), at Wisconsin (5-12, 13th)
- Michigan (13-3, 3rd): at Ohio State (12-2, 4th), hosts Maryland (10-6, 7th)
- Ohio State (12-2, 4th): hosts Michigan (13-3, 3rd), at Michigan State (11-6, 6th)
- Minnesota (12-5, 5th): at Illinois (9-7, 8th)