Hawkeyes Come Up Short Against LSU

Iowa Falls in Sunday's National Championship Game

Apr 2, 2023; Dallas, TX, USA; Iowa Hawkeyes guard Caitlin Clark (22) hugs forward Monika Czinano (25) during a stop in play against the LSU Lady Tigers in the second half during the final round of the Women's Final Four NCAA tournament at the American Airlines Center. (Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports)

Lisa Bluder didn’t need to say it.

Fighting back tears and failing, the Iowa women’s basketball coach tried to sum up the 102-85 loss to LSU in Sunday’s NCAA Tournament national championship game.

“I'm telling you, this is brutal,” Bluder said.

The brilliance of March disappeared in April’s cruelness in Dallas. The Hawkeyes (31-7) had roared through the postseason, dominating the Big Ten Tournament, controlling the four NCAA Tournament games to get to the Final Four, then eliminating the defending national champion South Carolina in Friday’s semifinal.

But they were done in by the Tigers (34-2), who rode hot first-half shooting and second-half chaos to a crown.

The tears got to Bluder again when she tried to come up with an answer on what her message was to her team after the game.

“I'm sorry. I'm going to try to get it out here,” Bluder said. “I'm just proud of them. I just told them that, for them, don't remember this. Remember that they played in a national championship game. Remember that they made it to the Final Four. And I asked them at the beginning of the year if they would have been happy playing in the national championship game, all of them would have.

“I just told them there's nobody else I'd want to coach except for them.”

“This is our goal every single year,” said guard Caitlin Clark, who scored 30 points despite dealing with foul trouble for most of the game, including a questionable technical foul in the third quarter. “We're not just going to be satisfied with making it here one time, but at the same time, I'm not worried about what's next right now. It's been a really long, really fun season with this group. I just need to take some time to reflect and appreciate all that's come with it.”

Clark wasn’t the only one in foul trouble. Monika Czinano and McKenna Warnock, playing their final games with the Hawkeyes, fouled out in the fourth quarter on a day when a championship-game 37 fouls were called.

Asked about the officiating, Bluder said, “I can't comment on the officials. It's very frustrating because I feel like I can't talk to them. They won't even listen. That's what's frustrating, is there wasn't even a conversation that could be had.

“When your two seniors have to sit on the bench … they don't know they're seniors. I get it. But those two women didn't deserve it. I don't think so. And then Caitlin getting a T. I don't know. It's too bad. Yeah, it's too bad.”

Clark and Czinano both picked up their fourth fouls on the same possession in the third quarter. Czinano was called for a foul on LSU’s Angel Reese, and during the dead ball Clark picked up the basketball and threw it behind her back toward the end line, drawing the technical foul.

Official Lisa Jones said through a pool reporter that it was a delay-of-game technical, since Iowa had already received one warning.

“I thought they called it very, very tight,” said Clark, who was called for two offensive fouls among her three first-half fouls. “I don't know about the two push-offs in the second quarter. I'm sure they saw that I pushed off and they called it and whatnot, and then (they) hit (me) with the technical foul in the third for throwing the ball under the basket.”

What was supposed to be a showcase of All-Americans in Clark and Reese disappeared as both had first-half foul trouble. But LSU’s Jasmine Carson was the star of the first half, going 7-of-7 from the field, 5-of-5 in 3-pointers.

Carson’s banked 3-pointer right before the first-half buzzer was the Tigers’ ninth of the half, and they took a 59-42 lead into halftime.

Iowa rallied, getting to within 71-64 with 2:07 to play in the third quarter. But within a minute came the Czinano-Clark foul pileup, and whatever momentum the Hawkeyes had was gone.

“I'm just proud of this group because we never gave up. We could have gone into halftime and been like, ‘What did we do?’ Clark said. “But our halftime locker room was like, ‘We're fine. We got this.’ We believe in one another. We have the offensive firepower to come out here and cause some damage.

“I thought it showed our fight. It showed our fight, this team, and that's what the story has been all year long, just a bunch of fight and mental toughness.”

Czinano, a 2,000-point scorer for her career, finished with 13 points.

“Well, I was really bummed that somebody who has made me a really, really good player had to spend the last five minutes on the bench out of six minutes on the bench, and somebody who has given so much to our program,” Clark said. “Monika is one of the most fun people to be around. She's goofy, and she deserved a little better than that. Monika would tell you when she first got here, she never dreamed to be as good as she is, and I still don't think she realizes how good she is, and other people don't realize it either. She doesn't get the credit she deserves.”

“I just hope people saw how much fun I played with,” Czinano said. “I love this game, and I love it for the team. Basketball is fun to me, but I didn't even like it all the time growing up. But I love being on a team and feeling like a part of something. That's what I felt here at Iowa.”

Clark was 9-of-22 from the field, making eight 3-pointers. Her 32 3-pointers for the tournament was a new record.

The Tigers, though, kept Clark from getting to the basket.

“We knew Caitlin was going to shoot the ball. We knew she was going to make her threes,” LSU coach Kim Mulkey said. “But we couldn't give her the 10 to 12 points she always gets off of layups.

“I don't know if I'm right, but I think she may have only gotten one inside the arc tonight. She had free throws and those threes, but I'd have to break this stat sheet down. She didn't get many layups in the arc.”

Carson led LSU with 22 points. Alexis Morris had 21.

Reese, who had 15 points, was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player. And as time ran out, Reese followed Clark around the court, pointing to her ring finger and taunting her.

“Honestly, I have no idea,” Clark said of Reese’s actions. “I was just trying to get to the handshake line and shake hands and be grateful that my team was in that position. That's all you can do is hold your head high, be proud of what you did.”

“I'm happy. I mean, all year I was critiqued about who I was,” Reese said. “ I don't fit the narrative. I don't fit in a box that y'all want me to be in. I'm too hood. I'm too ghetto. Y'all told me that all year.

“But when other people do it, y'all say nothing. So this was for the girls that look like me, that's going to speak up on what they believe in. It's unapologetically you. That's what I did it for tonight. It was bigger than me tonight. It was bigger than me.”

The Hawkeyes were left to ponder how far they got, and how close they came to the program’s first title.

“I'm just going to enjoy what we did,” Clark said. "We made history, and there's a lot to be proud of. There's a lot to reflect on these last couple weeks. Three weeks have been crazy, to say the least. I'm just thankful that I got to be on this journey with these people.”

Bluder thought about the impact the Hawkeyes had made.

“That's what our whole team is about,” she said. “They're role models. They relish in it, and not just for young kids either.

“This team has brightened the lives of so many people of all ages.”