I’m not going to copy-paste the recap from the first Iowa game.

Just a big chunk of it.

After a 59-42 loss in the Big Ten Tournament semifinals, Michigan's first Iowa matchup now stands as their second-worst offensive performance of the season. The Wolverines had two players, Olivia Olson and Mila Holloway, score in double figures; they both posted precisely ten points.

U-M made 16 field goals and committed 17 turnovers. That’s a basketball Rutger.

I didn’t want to make the Everclear reference! But here we are.

Michigan’s first possession set the tone for a long afternoon.

Iowa gave tons of space to Brooke Quarles Daniels, put All-Defense selection Kylie Feuerbach on Olson, camped center Ava Heiden in the lane, and stuck tight to Syla Swords on the perimeter. Swords and BQD found no room on their forays into the paint, and when Olson caught Feuerbach napping on a backdoor cut, BQD’s pass missed the mark and ultimately bounced out of bounds off Olson:

Despite a sterling defensive performance, the Wolverines had no margin for error. Only two players, Olson and center Ashley Sofilkanich, made multiple baskets at the rim (two apiece). Swords attempted ten of her 11 shots from beyond the arc, making three.

Everything looked difficult. Only seven of U-M’s 16 field goals were assisted. No player outside of the team’s three stars scored more than four points. Holloway, one of those stars, shot 3-for-13 from the field and committed seven turnovers; Kim Barnes Arico sat her down multiple times to get her settled with no perceptible effect.

“They're very active defensively, but their guards are really good at staying attached the whole time,” said Swords. “Whether it's coming off screens, whether it's coming off handoffs, we have to work to get the ball every single possession. Credit to Iowa for that. They did that both games, and that's not easy to do.”

After three Heiden buckets led Iowa to a 9-0 lead, Michigan made life difficult on the Hawkeye star, who shot 4-for-12 the rest of the way with six turnovers. Sofilkanich and Kendall Dudley kept Heiden from establishing deep paint position, while Olson looked like a hockey goaltender at times denying entry passes to the post.

The game was a grind. Neither team scored in the final three minutes of the first quarter. Michigan took a one-point lead midway through the third quarter; they’d spend 5:35 with the lead despite never stretching it beyond a point.

The dam broke in the fourth quarter. Iowa power forward Hannah Stuelke got off the schneid, scoring 11 of her 13 points in the final period. Three-pointers by Chit-Chat Wright and Taylor Stremlow stretched the lead to double digits. In the last eight minutes of the game, Michigan scored on a Macy Brown layup and a Quarles Daniels free throw. That was it.

“Iowa's been our only loss in a really long time, and the rest of our losses have been 3-point losses with the exception of Iowa,” said Barnes Arico. “Hopefully we don't have to play them in the NCAA Tournament.”

Amen to that. Hopefully nobody copies their defensive gameplan, either.

If you’re really enjoying the free coverage, please consider sending a tip on my Ko-fi page. The minimum tip is a mere $2 and they all very much help. Your support helps me keep the newsletter free to everyone, something I very much feel this program deserves given the relative lack of coverage from major outlets.

The day before, Michigan was the squad that almost entirely eliminated their opponent’s secondary scoring threats. Oregon, which had taken U-M to double-overtime in their regular season matchup, couldn’t keep up despite the best efforts of Katie Fiso and Ehis Etute, who combined for 38 of the team’s 58 points.

Michigan scored 80, getting double-digit scoring efforts not just from Swords (17) and Olson (16) but both traditional post players. Sofilkanich took advantage of a rare height advantage in the post to score 14 and Dudley chipped in an efficient ten.

This was pretty much the opposite of the Iowa game. U-M registered assists on 18 of their 31 field goals, scored 20 second-chance points off 19 offensive rebounds, and committed only nine turnovers. They had their best quarters in the first (18-13) and fourth (24-15).

There were a couple troubling signs, however. Michigan shot only 4-for-19 on three-pointers. Holloway dished out ten assists but otherwise looked off; she shot 2-for-13 from the field and coughed up five turnovers.

Quarles Daniels put up a very BQD stat line: four points on three shot attempts, four offensive rebounds, and four steals. Four fouls — lots of fours here — kept her from adding to those totals.

Oregon never held a lead. Given the outside shooting and Holloway’s struggles, this was about as smooth a win as possible.

The pair of ugly losses to Iowa has put Michigan squarely on the 2-seed/3-seed borderline. Ahead of Selection Sunday, The IX Sports has the Wolverines hanging on to a 2-seed, while ESPN, Her Hoop Stats, and USA Today have them dropping to a 3-seed.

Adding to the potential pain, all three outlets that dropped Michigan a seed line have them in the same region as 1-seed UConn and 2-seed Vanderbilt, two teams that have already defeated U-M this season. They all have different 6-seeds heading to Ann Arbor for the opening weekend: Texas Tech, NC State, and Notre Dame, respectively.

If there’s reason for hope that Michigan clings to a two-seed, it’s the NET rankings, which still have the Wolverines as the #6 team in the country. Those rankings also have Iowa at #10, however, so it’s unlikely the committee will hold firm to them.

The NCAA Tournament selection show airs on Sunday at 8 pm Eastern on ESPN.

I may push out a second newsletter this week but in all likelihood I’m going to save it until next week given the lack of any games. I have a storage unit to clear out and my body is not loving the lost hour from this past weekend (or my choice to stay up to watch the Australian Grand Prix).