By JOHN BOHNENKAMP
IOWA CITY, Iowa — McKenna Woliczko is a freshman with talent who is playing with confidence.
That’s become a potent combination in Iowa’s first two games of the new season.
Woliczko scored 22 points to lead the 10th-ranked Hawkeyes in Thursday’s 80-39 win over Eastern Illinois at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
Woliczko was 9 of 12 from the field, including 4 of 6 in 3-pointers, as the Hawkeyes (2-0) made easy work of the Panthers (0-2) heading into Sunday’s game at No. 2 UConn.
Iowa head coach Jan Jensen knew what she was getting in Woliczko, a 6-foot-2 wing who was a five-star recruit coming out of high school in California.
“I really love the progression of McKenna,” Jensen said. “I love how she attacks it and really tries to let the game come to her. She makes some pretty good decisions.”
The confidence, Woliczko said, comes from all of the shots she takes during practice, but it helps that her teammates are pushing her as well.
“With my teammates, they’re always telling me to shoot the ball and to have confidence in myself,” Woliczko said. “To hear that from my teammates is really good.”
Iowa’s offense hasn’t been sharp to start the season. The Hawkeyes made 8 of 29 3-pointers in Monday’s 73-45 win over Towson, and they were 9 of 28 in this game, missing 11 of their first 12 threes.
It’s not as if, Jensen said, the Hawkeyes aren’t getting good looks.
“I can’t really remember maybe one or two, I thought, was a little bit early, that maybe we could have looked for something else,” Jensen said. “So I think that’s the encouraging part. And the thing is, it is so early. You know, you’ve seen us shoot so well. So you know, I just kind of look at the numbers, and I think that they’re bound to go back, I hope, to our norm.”
It’s why Iowa’s defense was so important in shutting down the Panthers in the second quarter. The Hawkeyes outscored Eastern Illinois 27-8 in the quarter to take a 44-18 halftime lead, holding the Panthers to just five field-goal attempts while forcing 10 turnovers.
Iowa held Eastern Illinois to 31.6% shooting, 22.2% in 3-pointers. The Panthers also had 27 turnovers.
The Hawkeyes, though, are going to see a noticeable rise in the level of opponents within the span of a week. They’ll play UConn and No. 8 Vanderbilt on back-to-back Sundays, sandwiching a home game with in-state rival Northern Iowa next Thursday.
“I think this will be good for us,” guard Amari Whiting said.
“If we win it, if we lose it, if it’s close, if it’s not, what it’s going to do is give me a lot of a lot of information of where we are,” Jensen said. “And the great thing about our sport is we get to play a whole lot of games, and so that’s what I’m really anxious to see. We’re going to learn a lot, and I hope it’s in a really positive way.”
Photo: Iowa’s McKenna Woliczko gets to the basket to score in Thursday’s game against Eastern Illinois. (Brian Ray/hawkeyesports.com)
