'That's just a senior willing it to happen': How an ailing Stuelke led Iowa past Michigan into Big Ten final

INDIANAPOLIS -- All of Hannah Stuelke's emotions from a rough few weeks and a hard-fought game came pouring out of her late in the fourth quarter on Saturday night. 

With less than a minute to play, the ball somehow found its way through Ava Heiden's legs and into Stuelke's hands. She gathered, went up, and finished through heavy contact that sent her sprawling to the deck. Instead of lying there, she immediately sat up and let out a full-body scream -- a literal exclamation point on No. 2-seeded Iowa's 59-42 win over No. 3 Michigan that clinched a spot in the Big Ten Tournament championship against No. 1 UCLA on Sunday.

"I was just excited," Stuelke said. "Always good to get an and-one and then make the free throw. I think we were all working so hard. It was kind of a crazy play; it went through her legs and we didn't mean to do that, but it worked out in our favor."

Just a few days ago, it wasn't clear if Stuelke would be able to suit up in Indianapolis. An elbow injury kept her out of the team's regular-season finale in late February, and persistent swelling has largely kept her off the practice court since then. She then got hit by a virus, which only complicated matters. 

But the Cedar Rapids, Iowa, native, who grew up going to games at Carver-Hawkeye Arena and attended Iowa's youth basketball camps, was willing to do anything to suit up. That included taking a trip to Iowa's wrestling complex, where she and the team's medical staff learned a taping mechanism usually used by wrestlers to give her elbow some relief. 

From there, it was all up to Stuelke and her resolve. Saturday showed she had plenty of that. 

Michigan was up by one heading into the fourth quarter, but Stuelke bullied her way to the rim for an and-one on Iowa's first possession of the final frame to put the Hawkeyes back in front. They never trailed again. Stuelke outscored Michigan by herself in the fourth (11-6), as Iowa pulled away in front of another raucous pro-Hawkeyes crowd inside Gainbridge Fieldhouse. She finished the night with 13 points, 10 rebounds, four assists, a steal and a block in 36 minutes. 

"That's just a senior willing it to happen," Iowa coach Jan Jensen said. "Because she was sick and that elbow still doesn't feel great." 

Stuelke wanted to put it all on the line for her teammates because "they work hard for me every single day," she said. "There's just a wall. You've got to push through it, get to the next play and do anything I can for my teammates."

Now, Stuelke and Co. will have a chance to help the Hawkeyes claim their fourth Big Ten Tournament title in the last five years. With Caitlin Clark leading the way, Iowa won three in a row from 2022-24, but was knocked out in heartbreaking fashion in the quarterfinals last year. 

"It means everything having that one last game in the Big Ten and having a chance to get another ring," said Stuelke, who was a member of the 2023 and 2024 teams.

Throughout her time in Iowa City, Stuelke has helped the Hawkeyes win two Big Ten Tournament titles and make two national championship games. Along the way, she picked up a Big Ten Sixth Player of the Year award and two Second Team All-Big Ten honors. 

"Hannah is like a daughter," Jensen said. "She came to our little basketball camps, this svelte athlete and just played with that tenacity. You kind of had your eye on her, but they're little, right? But then she came to our elite camp, she lived 30 minutes down the road, and so you just know her a little bit longer than some of the others. Just watching her ascension has been really great."

Whatever happens Sunday, and later this month in the NCAA tournament, the next weeks will be the culmination of a lifelong dream for Stuelke, who said that Iowa means "everything to me." 

"I remember coming as a little girl, watching the games and being so excited to be here. Now that I get to wear the logo across my chest, it means a lot," Stuelke said. "I was that little girl watching in the stands and now I'm the person that the girls are watching. It just means a lot."