Mar 22, 2025
NORMAN, Okla. — Jan Jensen teared up when she reflected on the moment.
Iowa’s head coach was an assistant for 24 years at the school before getting promoted ahead of this season. She enjoyed being assistant head coach for Lisa Bluder, though she acknowledged that she has been questioned over the years for staying and not taking other opportunities.
Jensen held out and got her dream job when Bluder retired. Now, she has led the Hawkeyes to the NCAA Tournament. Third-seeded Iowa will play No. 14 Murray State on Saturday.
She struggled to find the words at first when she thought about her journey.
“I don’t even know why I’m choked up,” she said. “I think that tells you all you need to know, maybe.”
Jensen, 56, spoke passionately about the challenge of keeping the Hawkeyes winning. Caitlin Clark and Kate Martin are now in the WNBA after leading Iowa to the national title game the past two seasons.
“I’m just a really thankful coach that got a shot later in life,” she said. “And we’re having a blast. And I hope we get to have a blast for at least another game and get another shot at the next game.”
Tourney rematch
In the late game Saturday, No. 3 seed Oklahoma will host No. 14 Florida Gulf Coast in a rematch of what was nearly one of the biggest upsets of last year’s tournament.
The fifth-seeded Sooners barely held on for a 73-70 win over the 12th-seeded Eagles in Bloomington, Indiana last year. FGCU led 35-33 at halftime.
The biggest difference for the Sooners is that 6-foot-4 Raegan Beers, who led Oregon State to the Elite Eight last season, has transferred in and been dominant. She could pose a problem for the undersized Eagles,
FGCU still has its star. Emani Jefferson, the Atlantic Sun Player of the Year, had 22 points and 12 rebounds against the Sooners in last year’s game.
Style contrast
Florida Gulf Coast, which is on a 23-game win streak, allows just 53.2 points per game — eighth-best nationally. Oklahoma, which has won nine of 10, ranks fourth in scoring with 85.2 points per contest.
“I think this will be a fun matchup, seeing as they’re a really good defensive team, and I think we’re a really good offensive team,” Oklahoma’s Payton Verhulst said.
Beers said the Eagles do it with energy.
“From what I’ve seen and what we’ve worked on this week especially, they’re relentless,” Beers said. “They’re a relentless team. They’re constantly coming after you. They’re really, really scrappy.”
Traveling fans
Oklahoma coach Jennie Baranczyk knows full well how serious Iowa’s fanbase is.
She’s from Iowa and played for the Hawkeyes. Even without Clark, they averaged nearly 15,000 for home games this season.
Now, she’s excited for those fans to come down and support women’s basketball. Iowa has the early game on Saturday, so many of their fans likely will stay for the second game.
“Iowa has done a great job,” Baranczyk said. “Even after graduating a superstar in Caitlin Clark, they’re still selling out. I’m proud of that, being from there. And at the same time, I know that that’s also going to challenge our fans to be able to show up as well. So I’m excited to be able to see just our sport on a national level and be highlighted here in the Lloyd Noble Center tomorrow, whether it’s the 11:00 game or the 1:30 game.”
Baranczyk hopes the crowd will cheer for the Sooners because of the Iowa connection.
“I’m sure they’ll cheer for us,” she quipped.
A different Katelyn
Instead of featuring a high-scoring Caitlin, the Hawkeyes have to play against one.
Katelyn Young moved into 14th place on the all-time Division I scoring list and surpassed 3,000 career points in the Missouri Valley Conference title game, a 34-point barrage against Belmont. She averages 22.2 points per game on nearly 56% shooting from the field.
She has help — the team leads the nation with 87.8 points per game.
“I think they’re here for a reason,” Olsen said. “No random team just makes March Madness. So that’s important to note. They have a 3,000-point scorer on their team. Not a lot of people do that in their career. They play so fast. They just shoot the ball well. They’re going to be tough.”
New Iowa scorer
Though it will be the first time since 2019 that the Hawkeyes play in the tournament without Clark, Lucy Olsen has picked up much of the slack this season to help them return. She averages 18 points, 3.6 rebounds and 4.9 assists per game. She averaged 23.3 points per game at Villanova last season before transferring.
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