Record-breaking exterior heat, a sellout crowd and a 43-year-old venue built without air conditioning all conspired to send court-level temperatures to reach 90 degrees during Saturday's first round of the NCAA women's basketball tournament at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City, Iowa.
“Coming out for warmups, it was like a smack in the face how hot it was in there,” said Fairleigh Dickinson guard Ava Renninger, who scored a team-high 13 points in a 58-48 loss to the host Hawkeyes, as reported by The Athletic. “I already sweat a lot as it is. There was a towel or two towels given to me every timeout, every break possible.
“It was really hot, but I don’t think it affected how we played at all."
"The stifling heat capped one of the most chaotic weather weeks in the region’s history. On Selection Sunday, a blizzard gripped Eastern Iowa, sending real-air temperatures plummeting below zero with winds raging near 50 mph and several inches of snow," The Athletic's Scott Dochterman wrote. "Carver-Hawkeye Arena’s court and seating areas do not have air conditioning because so few events require it. So the unexpectedly quick rise in temperatures had real consequences for the competitors and the crowd."
As reported by CBS Sports, citing U.S. Climate Data, the average temperature in Iowa City in March is 48 degrees, but it got up to 84 degrees on Saturday, which broke the city's previous record high for March 21 of 78 degrees.
A sellout crowd of 14,332 contributed to the conditions, which included 26% humidity within the building.
“It wasn’t great, it wasn’t ideal. Some kids probably handle it a little bit better than others, but what are we going to do?” Iowa coach Jan Jensen said, as reported by The Athletic. “I don’t think we can fault Iowa. We can’t fault the NCAA."
Iowa star Ava Heiden, who scored a career-high 29 points, downplayed the conditions.
"We practice in that gym in the summer in the full Carver heat, so I think we're used to it for the most part," Heiden said, as reported by Jack Maloney of CBS Sports. "It was just a little early-summer feel for us."
