In Caitlin Clark's senior year, making history has become almost routine. With passionate Hawkeyes fans supporting her at home and on the road, she has rocketed past offensive players with the same unique flair that allows her to get to the top with ease from nearly half the court. On Thursday against Michigan, Clark set her most significant record yet. Fittingly, the shot that cemented her stature fell just left of the midfield logo. “They all knew I was going to shoot a Logo-3 for the record. Come on,” Clark said afterwards.
It didn't take long to cement her place in history. On Iowa's fifth possession, with 7:48 left in the first quarter, after Clark pushed the ball up in transition, she rose from a place only she seems to rise from. She converted the deep 3-point shot and became the all-time leading scorer in NCAA women's basketball with a total of 3,528 points. Clark replaced former Washington star Kelsey Plum, who scored 3,527 points between 2013 and 2017.
There was euphoria in Carver-Hawkeye Arena as Clark turned to the sold-out crowd and took in the moment, moving and cavorting along the sideline. Iowa called a timeout shortly afterward — but not before Clark had to defend for a possession, which came as a surprise to the newly crowned record holder. At the stoppage, however, Clark's teammates harassed their star. Hawkeyes coach Lisa Bluder kissed Clark's left cheek as fans gave the all-time star the appropriate ovation. “I’m just grateful more than anything,” Clark said. “I’ll just be proud, especially proud of the way I worked for it.”
After scoring 31 points against Nebraska on Sunday, Clark needed just 8 points to pass Plum. The expectations coming into Thursday night were that Clark would exceed them. More unexpectedly, Clark ended up scoring a career-high and Iowa program-record 49 points in the Hawkeyes' 106-89 win. “She picked a great night to do it,” Bluder told NBC Sports afterward. “What she has done to advance our program and women’s basketball nationally is spectacular.”
Clark was held scoreless in the final quarter of Sunday's surprising loss to the Cornhuskers. She ensured that Thursday's start would be very different than the finish. When Clark was introduced during Iowa's starting lineup, thousands of fans – many of whom arrived hours early – pulled out their phones to record the introduction. Hopefully no one was late or they would have missed the headline. Clark scored a layup on Iowa's first possession and hit a three-pointer on its second possession. She said she then became a little tired and needed to catch her breath. However, on the Hawkeyes' fifth offensive possession, she was ready to pass Plum. She ultimately scored 23 points in the first quarter, half of her career high (46).
The last time Clark faced Michigan in January 2023, she finished with 28. This time she had it at halftime and showed once again why the Wolverines are one of her favorite opponents. In four previous meetings against her, she averaged 34.8 points, more than any opponent she has played at least three times. It's not just Michigan that has surpassed Clark, however. With greatness and consistency, she averages at least 20 points per game against each of her conference opponents. She also seemingly lights up every opponent she faces in non-conference play. Only once in her 126 games at Iowa has Clark scored fewer than 10 points – an 8-point effort against Northwestern in her 10th game as a freshman. She now has 3,569 career points.
From her very first competition with the Hawkeyes, Clark's impact was felt. In her debut she scored 27 points in 26 minutes. Although her first 3-point shot was blocked, Clark has shot more than 450 three-pointers throughout her career, many from distances previously unattended in women's soccer. Against Michigan State earlier this season, she became the first Division I player in the last 25 years to score 40 points and hit a game-winning buzzer-beater in the same contest, touching midcourt with both feet, the game-winning shot of the night scored Hawkeyes logo.
“Caitlin has ice in her veins and everyone knows it,” Bluder said after the win.
For four seasons, Clark's offensive arsenal has been a constant onslaught of pull-ups from the top of the arc, leaning off the dribble, rebounding moves from the wings, slick dribbles that create opportunities for layups, precise no-look passing, and of course deep 3s – has thrilled Hawkeyes fans and even casual viewers of the sport. But during Clark's master classes, her classmates were rarely shocked.
“Nothing surprises me at this point,” sixth-year forward Kate Martin said after Clark delivered a prolific performance of 41 points, 12 assists and 10 rebounds in an NCAA tournament game last March, posting a prolific performance the Hawkeyes to their first Final Four since 1993.
In addition to the only 40-point triple-double in NCAA history, Clark is the only player in the NCAA era to record 3,000 points, 750 rebounds and 750 assists. En route to leading Iowa to two conference championships, she posted more 30-point games than any other player in the last 25 years. She became Iowa's all-time leading scorer in November and also the Big Ten's leading scorer in late January. Her program single-game record of 49 points on Thursday surpassed former Hawkeye center Megan Gustafson's 48-point effort in March 2018.
“I think the coolest thing is just the names that I come into contact with,” Clark said after setting the Big Ten record with a win at Northwestern in January. “These are people that I grew up with, especially Brittney Griner, Kelsey Mitchell, these are really, really great players, people that still play our game at the highest level, people that you watch night in and night out. “That's why It was just special for me to be in the same area as them and of course I have a lot of really good teammates that have enabled me to do my thing.”
GO DEEPER
Caitlin Clark's green light made her the gold standard in women's college basketball
Plum said in early February that she was happy to see Clark pass her on the record list.
“To be honest, I’m really grateful to be passing this baton,” Plum said. “Very happy for her.”
Although Clark has now set the NCAA record, she has yet to break Lynette Woodard's college basketball career scoring record of 3,649 points, which she set at Kansas in 1981 during the AIAW era. If Clark maintains her current scoring average of 32.1 points per game, she will likely overtake Woodard when the Big Ten Tournament begins in early March. Even if it doesn't appear in the record books, Clark could surpass Pete Maravich's NCAA scoring record of 3,667 points – for both men and women – before the end of the season.
Everywhere Clark went this season there was fervent amazement. In October, the Hawkeyes played an exhibition game at Kinnick Stadium and drew 55,646 fans, the most fans ever for a women's basketball game. Along the way, opponents' fans line up side by side with Iowa fanatics hours in advance, waiting to enter the arenas to watch them warm up. Of Iowa's 32 regular-season games, 30 have either sold out or set arena attendance records for women's basketball – the lone exception being Iowa's neutral-site games in a Thanksgiving tournament.
GO DEEPER
Greenberg: Iowa's Caitlin Clark brings the joy of basketball with her wherever she goes
Clark has also achieved booming television ratings. For example, a recent primetime game against Maryland on Saturday averaged more than 1.5 million viewers, making it the most-watched women's college basketball game ever broadcast on Fox. Iowa's overtime thriller against Ohio State in late January averaged nearly 2 million viewers on NBC and Peacock, becoming the most-watched women's college basketball regular-season event on a U.S. network in more than a decade. Last year's Final Four with the Hawkeyes was ESPN's most-watched Final Four weekend on record, averaging 6.5 million viewers. The national championship between Iowa and LSU drew 9.9 million viewers, double the 2022 total and the most-watched NCAA women's basketball game ever.
After the win over Michigan, Iowa held an on-field ceremony for the star, whose jersey will be retired sooner than later in the Carver-Hawkeye Rafters. Clark's teammates wore T-shirts with the slogan “You break it, you own it” on the front and Clark No. 22 on the back. Copies of the Des Moines Register with the headline “Unsurpassed” were distributed. A video tribute was broadcast in the arena praising family, coaches and teammates – past and present. A memorial ball was also awarded. At one point, the sold-out crowd — no one had left — serenaded Clark with chants of “One more year.”
Of course, Clark awaits a decision on this. While she'll increase her points tally as the season progresses, the 6-foot-10 senior will then face a decision that will shape her future: enter the upcoming WNBA Draft, where she's projected to be the No. 1 pick, or return back there Iowa for a fifth season, using a COVID-19 eligibility rule. If she chooses the former, she will face the world's best competition and embark on another, potentially historic career. If she chooses the latter, she will create even more distance from her record-breaking colleagues.
No matter what she decides, the mania will follow her.
“I think she's the most phenomenal basketball player in America,” Bluder said after Clark and the Hawkeyes upset previously undefeated South Carolina in the Final Four last year. “I just don’t think there’s anyone like her.”
Required reading
(Photo: Matthew Holst/Getty Images)