McKenna Woliczko is already giving No. 10 Iowa plenty to like.
The freshman delivered a game-high 22 points Thursday night as the Hawkeyes rolled past Eastern Illinois 80-39 at Carver-Hawkeye Arena, flashing the inside-out game that made her such a touted addition in the first place. Through two games, the five-star has shown she can score in the paint and stretch the floor, and Iowa has taken notice.
“I think these past two games are definitely a big confidence booster,” Woliczko said. “And it'll be really fun just to go and continue on playing and see how it goes.”
The Hawkeyes looked far sharper than they did in Monday’s season opener. That win counted, but Iowa knew there was room to clean things up, and Thursday brought some of that progress into view.
Iowa turned 21 Eastern Illinois turnovers into 25 points, including 18 in transition, while cutting its own turnovers from 16 to 11. The ball moved better, too, with the Hawkeyes finishing with 21 assists.
Woliczko was efficient all night, going 9-for-12 from the field and 4-for-6 from three in 20 minutes. She didn’t score in the fourth quarter, but by then the game was long out of reach. Ava Heiden added 15 points and Dani Carnegie chipped in 12.
“I’m really happy with her,” head coach Jan Jensen said. “She’s going to ebb and flow, being a freshman, and certainly Eastern Illinois won’t be as tough of a matchup as Sunday is going to be, but I really love the progression of McKenna. I love how she attacks it and really tries to let the game come to her, and she makes some pretty good decisions.”
Iowa emptied the bench once the lead ballooned. All 11 Hawkeyes saw the floor, and Bria Medina and Ella Stromdahl made their Iowa debuts in the fourth quarter after the margin reached 30 points.
Amari Whiting said the group’s communication has stood out early.
“I think one thing that I really loved about this team is I feel like we all are just like we huddle up, everyone's saying the same thing,” Amari Whiting said. “We're all just super connected.
It's all the same thing of just if shots aren't falling, it's just like, let's get a stop defensively. It's gonna fuel our offense.”
Jensen saw signs of growth, even if she knows there’s more to clean up once she gets back to the film.
“I thought there was a lot of improvement,” Jensen said. “Now I'll go back and watch the film, and I'll probably be a little bit more critical of it. But the thing that I like the most is that they were consciously trying to remember to not just one pass pop it, when it didn't go well, you will recall we put the ball on the floor, and there was no place to put it on the floor, and we just we are forcing a little bit at times, and that just is a little bit of tightness.”
The schedule tightens quickly from here. Iowa has three days before hosting No.
2 UConn on Sunday. The Huskies also lost Thursday night, falling to No.
5 Michigan. After that, the Hawkeyes host UNI on Nov. 12 and then head to Sioux City to face Vanderbilt on Nov.
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