“It meant everything coming from Caitlin [Clark]”: Hannah Stuelke talks about how WNBA ROTY elevated her game
Iowa forward Hannah Stuelke opened up on how WNBA Rookie of the Year and Hawkeyes women's basketball legend Caitlin Clark played a pivotal role in helping her level up her game last season.
Stuelke was one of the key contributors in Iowa's run to the national finals last season. The 6-foot-2 Cedar Rapids native was the team's second-leading scorer behind Clark, averaging 14.0 points, 6.6 rebounds and 1.2 assists per game.
She was also sixth in the nation in field goal percentage, making 62.7% of her shots from the field. Stuelke's field goal success could easily be attributed to the opposing teams' overwhelming attention to Clark on defense, leaving the forward wide open.
This, coupled with the NCAA all-time leading scorer's trust in her, motivated the incoming junior to perform better in the 2024-25 college basketball season.
"I think it meant everything coming from Caitlin. She's one of the best players in the world and she believes in me. I think that confidence boost is just unmatched," Stuelke told Hawk Central [1:01-1:13].
Last season, the Iowa forward torched Penn State in a February regular season game in February, scoring a career-high 47 points in 17-of-20 shooting from the field. This was also the game where Caitlin Clark finished with an unlikely triple-double of 27 points, 15 assists and 12 turnovers.
Hannah Stuelke was a dependable second option for Lisa Bluder's squad last year, scoring 20 or more points eight times, including in Iowa's final regular season game against Ohio State, where she finished with 23 points on 9-for-12 shooting from the field.
She repeated that performance against UConn in the Final Four where she also tallied 23 points on 9-for-12 shooting.
Hannah Stuelke opens up about playing hurt last season
Hannah Stuelke also talked about playing for Iowa despite dealing with a knee injury last season. Stuelke revealed that she sustained the injury at the beginning of the 2023-24 season in a scrimmage against DePaul at the Kinnick Stadium.
The forward thanked the medical team for helping her play like she wasn't hurt the whole season. After the season ended, Stuelke underwent a knee procedure and had rehab sessions during practices.
"(The knee) feels a lot better than last year. The extra time in the training room doing all my rehab before and after practice that was a lot for me, but I did it, and I came out on the other side," Stuelke said (per Hawkeye Beacon).
New Iowa coach Jan Jensen has praised Stuelke's ability to make shots from the paint and her relentless effort in rebounding.
This season, Hannah Stuelke will be one of the key players for the Hawkeyes' campaign in the expanded Big Ten Conference in their first season without Caitlin Clark.