With scoring record in sight, Caitlin Clark focused on Iowa's success

Caitlin Clark has never scored fewer than eight points in a game during her Iowa career, and that’s all she needs to break the NCAA women’s basketball scoring record. And Iowa fans who have been filling Carver-Hawkeye Arena to capacity all season will do so again Thursday, this time anticipating a historic moment for the best player in program history.

Anyone who doesn’t have a ticket already will have to be prepared to shell out big bucks. The average price on the secondary market for a ticket to Thursday’s Michigan-Iowa contest is nearly $400.

“I’m excited. It’s going to be a very special night,” Clark said in a news conference. “I’m not anxious about it at all. We haven’t really talked a lot about it as a team. It’s just go out there and play basketball and have fun, and this is kind of what comes along with it.”

Clark has scored in single digits only once at Iowa. She had eight points and fouled out of a 77-67 loss at Northwestern on Jan. 9, 2021, when she was a freshman. It was the 10th game of her college career. Since then, 15 is her lowest point total in a game.

Clark has said all along that the record will come whenever it comes. She appreciates the significance, but she has kept the focus on her team and being a senior leader since her first preseason news conference in October.

“I understand the magnitude of this,” Clark said of the record. “But I think it’s just kind of come along with how my four years have gone. I’m just really thankful and grateful.”

Getting No. 4 Iowa (22-3) back on track is the more pressing issue. The Hawkeyes headed into the fourth quarter of Sunday’s game at Nebraska with a 14-point lead but left with a disappointing 82-79 loss.

According to ESPN Stats & Information, teams ranked in the top 25 of the AP poll that entered the fourth quarter with at least a 14-point lead had not lost this season — they were 296-0 — until Iowa fell to the Huskers. In ESPN’s Bracketology, the loss bumped Iowa from a projected No. 1 seed to a 2-seed for the NCAA tournament.

Clark had 31 points, 10 assists, 8 rebounds and 4 steals Sunday against Nebraska, her 15th consecutive game with at least 25 points and 34th in a row with at least 20. But it was the first time in Clark’s collegiate career that she has played an entire fourth quarter without scoring.

Clark shrugged off questions about being ill Sunday, although she sounded congested as she spoke. Teammate Molly Davis has been sick enough that she has missed most of the past two games.

But Clark was concerned about Iowa’s failure to execute well against Nebraska’s defensive adjustments — and giving up a double-digit lead. She said she will be more focused on the team getting off to a good start Thursday than with anything else.

This could be Clark’s final February in an Iowa uniform, or she could return for a fifth season because of the NCAA’s COVID-19 waiver. Clark has said she will wait until the season ends to make the decision on whether to declare for the WNBA draft. Iowa still has a chance to win the Big Ten regular-season title, plus go for its third consecutive Big Ten tournament championship and then try to take another run at the Final Four.

“I’m somebody who has really big dreams, goals and aspirations,” Clark said. “I dreamed of doing really big things, playing in front of big crowds, going to the Final Four. I just go about my business as I did when I was a freshman. Sure, my life’s kind of changed somewhat. I just try to have fun and enjoy every single day.”