With 16:40 left in Sunday’s game, Iowa guard Crystal Smith outran the other nine players on the floor and chased down a long offensive rebound on the baseline. As she was falling out of bounds, she twisted back toward the court and signalled for a timeout, which was granted by the referee.
Iowa led by 18 at the time.
“Crystal Smith is obviously one of the best players in this league,” Northwestern coach Beth Combs said. “But I think what makes them so strong is that they’ve got eight, nine people that can also make a difference in this league.”
This reliance on speed and hustle, no matter how big the lead, helped the Hawkeyes (11-6, 4-2 Big Ten) control the game almost from the opening tip in their 80-48 win over the Wildcats (4-12, 0-6).
Iowa’s frantic pace forced NU to play the game at a higher speed than it was used to.
“They didn’t get a lot of scores in transition, with the exception of us trying to rush shots at the end of the first half,” Combs said. “We’re taking one pass and out. When you’re only shooting 20 percent, you really need to slow yourself down, be able to work your offense a little bit. We just don’t know how to do that yet.”
Iowa’s pressure on defense showcased and exacerbated a trend that has been plaguing the Cats for the greater part of this season: poor field goal shooting.
NU shot 27.3 percent against the Hawkeyes, the third time this season the team has shot below 30 percent and the seventh time its percentage has dipped below 35.
Crystal Smith said she and Kristi Smith, Iowa’s other starting guard, pushed the tempo to get their team settled in and keep the Cats off balance.
“Mainly I was just trying to fire up all the girls,” Crystal Smith said. “We had to kick this game up ourselves. I think everybody came out with a lot of emotion, a lot of fight in the game. I think that’s why we played so well.
“I think the whole team came out tonight and did what they had to do on defense.”
NU’s starting five combined for only 19 points on 8-for-25 shooting.
The Cats have shot 33.6 percent in their last seven games, all losses. During its 4-5 start to the season, the team shot 40.6 percent.
“It’s our fault,” junior forward A.J. Glasauer said. “We had good shots, we had wide-open shots, we didn’t put the ball in the hole.”
Freshman guard Erin Dickerson offered a simple solution to the Cats’ shooting problems.
“Practice makes perfect,” she said. “Repitition.”
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