No. 4 Iowa vs Minnesota | Big Ten | 12.30.23

IOWA CITY — Iowa vs Minnesota

*Telecast beings at 0:53

Written by Tyler Tachman | Des Moines Register

The first record-breaking announcement came at halftime.

Caitlin Clark entered Saturday’s matchup with Minnesota needing just five assists to become the Iowa women’s basketball program leader in that category. She got it before halftime. So during the break, it was announced to the crowd at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

But it did not stop there.

During the second half, Clark became the Big Ten’s all-time assist leader. She also became the first Division I player (men’s or women’s) with 3,000+ pts, 900+ assists and 800+ rebounds in a career.

Both of those were announced in between the third and fourth quarters.

Clark, as she does so often, put on a masterful performance. She posted a final line of 35 points, 10 assists and five rebounds. Her nine turnovers were a blemish and need to be cut down, but she did enough elsewhere on Saturday to make up for it.

Iowa’s 94-71 win over Minnesota on Saturday was yet another reminder of the generational talent in Iowa City. That talent comes with breaking records, which, by now, have almost seemed commonplace.


Clark on what she might do with a basketball commemorating her Iowa/Big Ten all-time assists record:

“I have a couple storage units back home my parents put stuff in. But like my 3,000-point ball has just been sitting in our locker room. Sometimes, it gets lost in my locker. I don’t know. Until I clean it out or make one of my teammates clean my locker. They get so annoyed they offer to clean it for me.”

Iowa coach Lisa Bluder added: “It needs to be cleaned.”

But the accolades have only happened because of the rarity of Clark’s skillset.

How often does an electric, high-volume scorer like Clark come along? How frequently is that skillset accompanied by elite vision and passing ability?

Clark is prolific at both.

She attributes her passing ability to a variety of factors. One is her father. Another is being able to anticipate where her teammates will be while on the move.

"I think it just comes with playing the game more than anything," Clark said. "I don’t go into the gym and just chuck passes against the wall. I don’t do that. You get that from playing basketball. That’s how you learn. You read angles. I think soccer helped me a lot in reading angles and understanding angles."

Saturday had the billing of what could have been a tight matchup. The Golden Gophers entered the game with an 11-1 overall record, its only loss coming to No. 17 UConn. Meanwhile, third-ranked Iowa entered the contest with a 12-1 overall record.

But Iowa didn’t have much trouble with Minnesota. The Golden Gophers shot just 39.4% from the field and 15.8% from deep. Iowa got key contributions from Kate Martin, who had 13 points, and Hannah Stuelke, who had 19 points and eight rebounds.

Iowa was ready from the start, surging out of the gate to an 11-2 lead and never trailed in the game. Fittingly, Clark scored or assisted on every Iowa basket during that opening stretch.

It was more numbers piled on to what are staggering career statistics. Clark has scored more than 3,100 points in her Iowa career. She has made more than 400 3-pointers. After Saturday, she now has more than 900 assists. She's also grabbed more than 800 career rebounds.

The incredible part of Saturday’s performance is that days like this are not uncommon for her.

Clark is now in the top-5 in all-time Division I women’s basketball scoring and in the top-15 in all-time women’s basketball assists.

“I relish it," Bluder said of watching Clark break records. "It’s just so much fun. I want her to get double-doubles. I want her to break records. It’s just, to me it’s so much fun to watch her do that. I never get tired of her passing. And I get to go to practice every day.”

Clark interjects: “You get tired of my shooting, though.”

“No," Bluder says. “Eh, sometimes."

“She knows that’s not true," Bluder said. "I love watching her. In practice even. It’s just a blast.”

What’s impressive, too, is the level at which she has played with such lofty expectations. Her thrilling style of play, which includes launching shots from far beyond the 3-point arc, has captivated so many people. That, along with Iowa’s run to an appearance in the national title game last season, has helped her ascend to new heights of notoriety.

And yet, Clark has continued to deliver. Saturday was Clark's sixth game this season scoring at least 35 points. It was also her sixth time this season dishing out double-digit assists.

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