West Virginia women’s basketball is vying for a Sweet Sixteen appearance but in order to make it there, they will have to knock off No. 1 Iowa and the face of college basketball in Caitlin Clark.
Well, what the national media and everybody sees is what they do really, really well. The most elite offense in the country, the best offense I’ve seen since I’ve been coaching,” West Virginia head coach Mark Kellogg said. “And they’re special because they have obviously our game’s greatest scorer, man or woman, leading the charge. Then they have put the right pieces around her.”
Clark’s accolades could take up the entire page and then some, but for Kellogg there is more to Iowa than just Clark’s game.
Those kids, they know what they’re doing. They’re veteran. They have been here. Coach has done a phenomenal job for many, many years here. So it’s a well-oiled machine,” Kellogg said. “For us, I guess we have to try to get them to leak some oil some way and find a few things we can take advantage of. We probably need them to have a little bit of a bad shooting night and not shoot it so well and slow them down at times.”
West Virginia has faced a guard heavy team earlier this season in Oklahoma. The Mountaineers won that game 70-66, despite Oklahoma making 13 three-pointers. However, what helped the Mountaineers was the Sooners turning the ball over 25 times.
“We played Oklahoma earlier in the year that would be somewhat similar to Iowa, how fast they play and the pace at which they play and how elite they are on the offensive end,” Kellogg said.
In order to beat Iowa though, you are going to have to slow down Clark. Clark scored 27 points to go along with 10 assists and eight rebounds. Kellogg recognizes needing to slow down Clark in other ways than her scoring the basketball.
“I think it’s probably her assists more than the rebounds that scare you. If they were offensive rebounds, that would be one thing. Defensive rebounds for her can certainly lead them in transition,” Kellogg said. “I think, when you’re talking about an elite scorer that’s averaging 30-plus, but 9-plus assists as well, that’s so many more additional points she’s creating for her team.
“That’s kind of the pick your poison, I guess, if you can find a way to do it. Do you try to make her a scorer, do you try to make her a facilitator. What’s the game plan going to be.”
The Mountaineers are going to rely on their own guard play to try to suppress Clark. WVU was third in the country in turnovers forced per game and second in the country in steals per game.
“They’re going to want to turn us over, and that’s exactly what they did to Princeton last night in the third quarter. I think that was kind of the point in which the game changed,” Clark said of WVU. “They’re one of those teams that really feeds off of turnovers. One turnover can turn into five for a team. So I think that’s going to be the biggest thing is taking care of the ball.”
Quinerly scored 29 points for WVU in their round one win over Princeton, something she will have to do again Monday night if WVU wants to hold their own. Quinerly played every minute of the win and was a force on defense during WVU’s 13-0 third quarter run as well.
“I think JJ specifically is somebody that’s really going to put her head down and want to get to the basket. I think that goes for all their guards, and that’s kind of what they hang their hat on,” Clark said. “They’re capable shooters, but I think they want to drive first and create opportunities there. So we’ll throw a few different things at them. They’re a really good team. They run some really good stuff.”
Tip-off is set for 8:00 p.m. EST, and the game will be televised on ESPN.