'It's become a rivalry': No. 14 Indiana Set to Play at No. 3 Iowa, Face Caitlin Clark Saturday Night

No. 14 Indiana women's basketball and No. 3 Iowa are both on 13-game win streaks and 5-0 in the Big Ten. The stage is set for another thrilling showdown in Iowa City Saturday night on FOX, weather permitting — a chance for the Hoosiers to gain national respect.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Any game Iowa standout Catilin Clark plays is big.

That’s what Indiana head coach Teri Moren says, and that’s what No. 3 Iowa affirmed again this week as it beat Purdue with Clark’s triple-double in front of Mackey Arena’s sold-out crowd. Clark draws sellout crowds. Iowa’s regular-season tickets were gone — back in August.

Whether Iowa is playing at home — like it will Saturday in a nationally televised contest against No. 14 Indiana, weather permitting — or on the road, Iowa is a top draw. And the star is Clark, the recipient of the 2023 Naismith Trophy and John R. Wooden Award, given to the nation’s most outstanding men’s and women’s players.

Indiana’s home game versus Iowa in late February sold-out last week, the second ever for the program following last year’s sellout for Purdue. Per athletics websites, each matchup that Iowa plays leading up to the Big Ten Tournament, which is 12 more conference games, is sold out.

Clark is the nation’s leading scorer, with 31 points per game. Wednesday night was Clark’s fourth triple-double of the season. With time dwindling before halftime, Clark was fouled on the floor near halfcourt, and yet her off-balance heave to get the chance at three free throws went in. The basket didn’t count, though it was similar to Clark’s off-balance and walk-off buzzer-beater three to beat then-No. 2 Indiana at home last season. Had it not gone in, Indiana would’ve completed the regular-season sweep over the Hawkeyes.

Saturday night is an opportunity for Indiana, which like Iowa is on a 13-game winning streak, to gain some national respect and move up in the polls.

“For us, it’s the next game that’s on our schedule,” Moren said Wednesday. “But certainly, going to Iowa, I think, especially with the way that we went in there last year and how it ended, the bitterness that we felt with the unbelievable shot that Cait had to shoot to beat us. I think it's just two really great programs, that have great players inside of both respective programs, that look forward to this. I mean, it’s become a rivalry. That’s what it’s become.”

It’s been that way for years, before Clark. In the 2018-2019 season, Indiana stunned No. 10 Iowa and Naismith Trophy recipient Megan Gustafson in the third-to-last regular-season game. At the time, it was Indiana’s first top-10 home win since the 2009-10 season. Iowa came into that game winning its past five in the Big Ten, won the next two post-upset, and placed second in the Big Ten — by one game. Iowa took revenge in the Big Ten Tournament.

In the debut season of the Clark era, the then-No. 10 Hoosiers swept the Hawkeyes. Iowa returned the favor two seasons ago, and swept Indiana in back-to-back games. Last season, the team’s oh-so-closely snagged one each. This season, the stage is boldly set. Both teams are 5-0 in the Big Ten with just one loss overall: Iowa is 16-1 and Indiana is 14-1. Both rosters are loaded with talent. Both programs are top-10 in average attendance this season at 8,000-plus. Only… Indiana isn’t also ranked in the top-10.

In fact, the No. 14 Hoosiers didn’t move any spots in this week’s AP Poll, following blowout wins over two then-unbeaten teams in the Big Ten. Obviously, Indiana fans on social media weren’t pleased, some citing that the team’s only defeat — the 32-point disaster at Stanford in the second game of the season — has kept them from being rated higher. That game was on national television. Since, there haven't been real statement win opportunities for Indiana to leap up. Moren doesn’t bother with rankings. But Saturday’s game at Iowa is Indiana’s grandest stage since Stanford, and it’s on FOX Primetime Hoops.

“We talked a little bit about that yesterday,” Moren said Friday morning. “For us, we just want to perform better than we did in the second game of the season. I think we will, I think we’ve made improvements, I think we’ve grown as a basketball team … it's a great opportunity to showcase our program, Iowa’s program, the Big Ten on a national stage. And I feel like it's gonna be, as I mentioned, it's gonna be a great battle between two really, really good teams.”

Moren said earlier this week that no team has figured out how to guard Clark. In the team’s two meetings last season, Clark scored 69 combined points, with 19 assists. She had eight turnovers at Indiana in front of the program’s record crowd, and reduced that to two turnovers when the teams played in Iowa City. In both matchups, Indiana senior guard Chloe Moore-McNeil was mainly tasked with guarding Clark. On Wednesday, Moren said Moore-McNeil re-tweaked her ankle. On Friday, Moren confirmed the guard is “good to go.”

Moren knows that Clark will score and said, “Caitlin will get hers.” The key, however, is making sure that fellow Hawkeye returners, such as Gabbie Marshall, Kate Martin, and Hannah Stuelke in the post don’t become part of the scoring equation. Once more, both lineups are loaded at each position group with experience. The Hoosiers have their own All-American in Mackenzie Holmes. She scored 45 combined points versus Iowa last season in the post against Monika Czinano. With the Iowa forward now gone, the matchup will seemingly be Holmes versus Stuelke. Holmes is Indiana’s leading scorer, averaging close to 20 points per game. Stuelke is Iowa’s second-leading scorer, averaging around 14 points.

“Probably has better ball skills than Czinano had when you bring her out on the perimeter,” Moren said. “So our ability to be able to sit down and guard her off the bounce from the high posterior. Mack will have to do without fouling. Lilly [Meister] will have to do without fouling. She's physical. She’s a challenge … Stuelke’s different, as far as her game, [than Czinano].”

Indiana’s flight to Iowa, scheduled for Friday afternoon, was postponed to Saturday morning due to inclement weather. Assuming that the team makes it safely to Iowa City viewers are in store for the latest matchup of the Indiana-Iowa rivalry for the top spot in the Big Ten. The game is set to tip-off at 8 p.m. ET and will be broadcast on FOX.

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