The parallels were equally striking and heartbreaking.
Once again, a popular Iowa women’s basketball senior guard was being carried off the floor in the first half of a blockbuster matchup vs. Ohio State at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
And once again, the Hawkeyes responded to adversity in the moment with a foot-stomping victory.
After losing sharpshooter Taylor McCabe in the first minute to a left-knee injury, No. 10-ranked Iowa rallied around its injured senior and pulled away from 11th-ranked Ohio State, 91-70, on Jan. 25 before a raucous sellout crowd.
Iowa improved to 18-2 overall, 9-0 in the Big Ten Conference; Ohio State (18-3, 7-2) had its seven-game winning streak snapped.
We all remember two years ago the image of Molly Davis being carried off the floor on Iowa’s Senior Day against No. 2-ranked Ohio State, only to come back later to the bench to witness Caitlin Clark and the sixth-ranked Hawkeyes produce a 93-83 victory.
Like Davis’ injury back then, McCabe’s injury didn’t look good. A non-contact twist of her left knee, and she knew it immediately. McCabe would return to the Iowa bench later to hugs, wearing street clothes and an ice pack on that left knee.
The rest of the story surrounding the 2024 injury to Davis, who was a starting guard for the Hawkeyes, became the Sydney Affolter postseason breakout. Thrust into the starting lineup, Affolter — then a junior who had waited and waited for a more prominent role — blossomed. She was an All-Big Ten Tournament player the following week, recorded the big-time bucket that allowed Iowa to escape West Virginia in the round of 32 and helped the Hawkeyes reach the national title game for a second straight year.
Two years later, Addie Deal has a chance to follow the path that Affolter paved.
Deal emerged from the Iowa bench 23 seconds into this Sunday afternoon game. The highest-ranked Iowa prospect since Clark jumped into the lineup and looked immediately comfortable, smoothly knocking down all four of her first-quarter shots. A sweet turnaround fadeaway was one of those plays that served as a reminder of her five-star talent.
“I’ve always been taught, ‘Be ready,’” Deal said in her postgame TV interview. “Whenever my number’s called, I’m going to give it all I’ve got.”
Deal, a 6-foot guard from Santa Ana, California, took her lumps early in the season. She had to adjust to the pace of the game, on both ends of the floor. Some games, she barely got off the bench. But she kept working and week by week, she has been figuring it out. In Iowa’s recent home win over Oregon, Deal busted out for a career-high 18 points. In the Jan. 22 overtime road win at Maryland, Deal was Jan Jensen’s first sub off the bench — a nod to her growing trust.
Deal rewarded her coach with 13 first-half points against the Buckeyes to go with five assists. She had been platooning with McCabe of late, getting 14 minutes at Maryland to McCabe’s 31.
Deal finished her day with a career-high 20 points on 8-of-17 shooting in 32 minutes.
“She’s at this moment, because she’s done the work,” Iowa coach Jan Jensen said. “She has learned from her elders. She’s been patient. She’s been stacking the days. … She’s been ready for her time. I was just so proud of her. But I think when a teammate goes down, that really tests the team. And I thought we handled it really, really well.”
If McCabe’s injury is long-term, the solution cannot and will not solely rely on Deal. This will have to be a team effort. Deal was the point guard for one of the top high school basketball teams in the country, so additional playing time is not going to faze her.
But this will mean more of a scoring role for senior Kylie Feuerbach, the Hawkeyes’ lock-down defensive specialist who knocked down back-to-back 3s in the first half vs. Ohio State and finished with eight points and nine assists.
This will mean more of a role for sophomore Taylor Stremlow, who has been a spark for Iowa all season. Stremlow had to be thrust into a more prominent role when Chit-Chat Wright was dealing with concussion symptoms. She, too, is ready for the additional work and showed as much with eight points (all in that critical first half) against the Buckeyes.
This will mean, indirectly, that center Ava Heiden needs to stay out of foul trouble. She did a great job of that against the Buckeyes with 18 points and eight rebounds. Same with Hannah Stuelke, who was amazing again with 18 points of her own with 15 rebounds.
Without McCabe, a career 40.7% shooter from 3-point range, Iowa needs to keep as many scorers on the floor as possible at all times.
It is unlikely that Emely Rodriguez (back injury) plays again this season, so sophomore Callie Levin needs to be ready for minutes here and there, too. Sophomore Teagan Mallegni could get more opportunities, too, after spending most of the season on the bench; she got two third-quarter minutes vs. Ohio State.
As was the case in the 2023-24 season after Davis went out, Iowa’s margin for error just got thinner. The rotation will get tighter. But the Hawkeyes still have the players to be great.
And now, the spotlight really will shine on Deal. As fate would have it, Deal’s first career start likely will occur at Southern California on Jan. 29 — just miles from her high school home. And then it’s No. 3 UCLA on Feb. 1 in Los Angeles. If she needs any advice on two years ago, Affolter is nearby as a graduate-assistant coach.
Hearts break for McCabe, who has been an incredibly persistent and wonderful Hawkeye during her four years. But as was the case post-Davis, the show must go on and others must step up. (Davis was unable to return for the Hawkeyes in their 2024 postseason run until the final 20 seconds of the national title game.)
The Hawkeyes showed against Ohio State they have the players, the coaching and the growing confidence to maintain their top-10 status.
Hawkeyes columnist Chad Leistikow has served for 31 years with The Des Moines Register and USA TODAY Sports Network. Chad is the 2023 INA Iowa Sports Columnist of the Year and NSMA Co-Sportswriter of the Year in Iowa. Join Chad’s text-message group at HawkCentral.com/HawkeyesTexts. Follow @ChadLeistikow on X.
