The Iowa Hawkeyes beat Murray State 92-57 in the First Round of the NCAA Tournament Saturday. Ava Heiden had a career high 15 points as the Hawks raced past the Racers in the 2nd half. We’ll break down the win and look ahead to Iowa’s second round opponent.
Jan Jensen Sends Iowa Emphatic Locker Room Message Amid Team NCAA Tournament History
Iowa Hawkeyes coach Jan Jensen was stoked about her team setting a program NCAA Tournament record on Saturday.
In their first NCAA Tournament game without Caitlin Clark in four seasons, the Iowa Hawkeyes got off to a fantastic start in their 2025 tournament campaign on Saturday, defeating No. 11 seed Murray State by a score of 92-57.
This win had to feel great for Jan Jensen, marking her first NCAA Tournament victory as a head coach after spending over two decades as Lisa Bluder’s top assistant.
She especially must have liked seeing her team amass a whopping 28 assists during the game, which set the Iowa program record for most assists in an NCAA Tournament game.
In fact, we know exactly how Jensen was feeling about this record, as the Hawkeyes women’s basketball team’s X account posted a video of Jensen addressing her locker room after the game ended.
“This team… set a record that nobody before has done, most assists in an NCAA [Tournament] game!” Jensen said before her team erupted in applause. “Listen to me: There have been great teams from the 90s. YOU, YOU are the team, you’re the team in the record book for how you shared the ball, for how you leaned into these moments, how you have prepared for when your number was called.
“Are you kidding me that we set a program record? THAT IS AWESOME! Love you guys,” Jensen added.
The first-year head coach later commented on this X post by writing, “Our Hawks set an Iowa record for most assists in an NCAA Tournament game… 28 assists, are ya kiddin’ me?!😎 Just so proud of the way our team uplifts & supports each other.👏🏼👏🏼”.
The vibes are clearly high for Iowa ahead of their second-round NCAA Tournament game against No. 3 ranked Oklahoma on Monday.
Caitlin Clark Fired Up by Iowa Team Bus Driver’s Passionate NCAA Tournament Pep Talk
Caitlin Clark was ready to run through a brick wall after hearing the speech her alma mater Iowa Hawkeyes got from their bus driver before the NCAA Tournament.
The Iowa Hawkeyes women’s basketball team produced a dominant 92-57 win over Murray State in the first round of the 2025 NCAA Tournament on Saturday.
While this is the first Hawkeyes NCAA Tournament game that Indiana Fever superstar Caitlin Clark wasn’t playing in in four seasons, there’s no question that she was watching to see her alma mater put up a program NCAA Tournament record 28 assists during Saturday’s big win.
And it’s no surprise why the Hawkeyes played so passionately on the court after their Instagram account posted a video of the team bus driver (named Zee) giving the team a motivational pep talk before the game.
In the video, Zee can be heard saying, “Remember when y’all tried out for this team? Everybody remember that feeling? That’s what I need from you today. I need you to go out there thinking like ‘If we don’t win, we can never play ball again.'”
She later added, “Real talk, I’ve been doing this for a while. You gotta psych your mind and say ‘If we don’t win, we can NEVER play ball again.’ It’s a done deal, right? If you go out there with that mindset, it won’t matter who you playing. It’s about to be some problems, you hear me?”
Zee ended the pep talk by leading the team in a “We ready!” chant.
The top two comments on the post are from Clark, who wrote, “Okay eat then. This had me about to go thru a brick wall … heck yeah”.
She then added, “Get her Iowa wbb merch .. she deserves it,” before tagging several members of Iowa’s team and coaching staff.
We can only imagine how many points Clark would have dropped on Murray State if she’d played after this pep talk.
