Iowa's Monika Czinano has quickly made a name for herself among Hawkeye fans. For the first time ... [+]
The Iowa Hawkeyes are on a roll, and sophomore center Monika Czinano is a major reason for their success.
After a pair of Hawkeye road wins last week in which Czinano shot a combined 18-of-20 from the floor and averaged 20.5 points per game, she garnered a spot on the Big Ten Honor Roll on Monday. It’s the first Big Ten weekly honor of her career.
This type of recognition is a few months coming for Czinano, who’s been a big factor on a No. 19 Hawkeye team that has started a perhaps unexpected 15-3 (6-1 Big Ten). That said, the weight of the expectations placed in her general direction at the beginning of the season — thanks to replacing unquestionably Iowa’s best player ever in Megan Gustafson — required her to prove herself immediately.
By now, it’s clear that Czinano is everything Hawkeye fans are used to in a center — with two more years to show off.
This season, from a scoring perspective, Czinano is dominant. With six 20-point games — including each of her last three outings — on an NCAA second-best 71.5% shooting, she’s one of three Hawkeyes averaging over 15 points per game. Throughout the season, the team has balanced its Big Ten-best 3-point shooting with the increasing reliability of Czinano near the basket; that Iowa leads the country in assists lends itself to this development.
She’s not yet the rebounder that Iowa needs her to be, but that’s not to say she has no impact. Forward Amanda Ollinger leads the Hawkeyes at 8.8 boards per game, while Czinano and guard Kathleen Doyle come in second at 4.8 apiece. It’s more of a team weakness anyway, as Iowa comes in 11th of 14 teams in the Big Ten in rebounding.
With Ollinger graduating this December, though, it’ll be on Czinano to keep up that intensity down low next season. She pulled down a career-high 17 rebounds against Nebraska on December 28, but that number, for now, remains an outlier. Czinano also leads the team in personal fouls, having fouled out five times in 18 games — a result that comes with her position, but one that will also improve with experience.
Iowa returns to Carver-Hawkeye Arena for contests on Thursday and Sunday, the latter of which will honor Gustafson as her jersey is retired. While the comparisons between the two centers rage on, the Hawkeyes have gone Gustafson-less for long enough that embracing Czinano and the role she occupies is anything but a formality.
“She soaks up information like a sponge, and she loved playing behind Megan all year and learning from Megan, and I’m excited about Monika because she embraces contact, she doesn’t back away from it,” said Iowa head coach Lisa Bluder during Iowa’s media day in October.
“I think that we’re all going to fall in love with Monika through her amazing attitude and work ethic through time.”
Just shy of three months into the season, any other conclusion already seems out of the question.
