NCAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: SECOND ROUND - IOWA VS OKLAHOMA

March 23, 2025

Lucy Olsen

Sydney Affolter

Lloyd Noble Center

Iowa Hawkeyes

Media Conference

Q. What is one thing that you guys are looking to do specifically beside obviously advance in tomorrow's game against Oklahoma, especially with this one being maybe a little personal with Coach Baranczyk from Iowa?

LUCY OLSEN: Yeah, I think winning is definitely the main goal. But I think just playing on our game, like focusing on ourselves and making sure that we get better every day and that we're really sticking with the game plan.

SYDNEY AFFOLTER: We're going to handle it just like any other game and we know how good we are and we've been playing some pretty good basketball.

So just having that confidence and knowing that we should be in that game and we can compete with anyone.

Q. Curious what you guys think about Oklahoma. They do have a unique style in that they are always up and down, and they get shots up quickly and things like that. I know you played some teams like that this year but talk about the matchup and how you guys see the matchup with Oklahoma?

LUCY OLSEN: Yeah, I think luckily we just played Murray State who also does the same thing. So that prepared us in the Big Ten, plays pretty fast. So we've had a lot of games up-and-down, and we know it's a game of runs.

But throughout our season, we've had a lot of different situations. So I think we're ready for anything.

SYDNEY AFFOLTER: Yeah, I mean, they are a great team. We give all the respect to them. But like you said, they like to push the ball. But we also like to push the ball and get up and down. So it will definitely be a fast-paced game, and we're excited.

Q. My question is about dealing with Beers. You guys are guards obviously but she's quite a force inside. I know you guys got some bigs, too. How do you, I guess, look to slow her down because she can really get it going.

LUCY OLSEN: Yeah, she's definitely a really tough player. We've talked about her a lot. I think it's nice that we have a couple of bigs that will be able to give different looks on her. Like last game we had Hannah get in foul trouble, but we had Ava step up. We have a bunch of different threats that I think just giving different looks will be helpful.

SYDNEY AFFOLTER: Being physical with her. She's a big post so you can't just let her go where she wants. But I think all of our posts have done a great job at that, and we know that they like to offensive rebound, as well. So making sure we put a body on somebody and box out.