Caitlin Clark Soaking Up Final College Days

Iowa Basketball Star Cherishing Stretch Run with Hawkeyes

Caitlin Clark has been hearing the clock tick on her career all season.

She knew she had the ability to extend time, but the ticking was still there.

And when the Iowa guard made her decision on Thursday to enter the WNBA draft after the season and forego the additional year of eligibility she had, she also knew that time was now running out.

Which is why, Clark said on Friday, she’s enjoying all of those seconds.

Sunday’s home game with No. 2 Ohio State is the final regular-season game for the sixth-ranked Hawkeyes. Then comes the Big Ten tournament and the NCAA tournament.

After this game this weekend, we're really only guaranteed two games,” Clark said. “So I think I’m just enjoying every single second and playing and having fun.”

The decision after four historic seasons with the Hawkeyes wasn’t easy, Clark said. She is knocking down record after record — she became Iowa’s all-time scoring leader early in the season, Kelsey Plum’s NCAA women’s career scoring record then tumbled, and then Lynette Woodard’s major women’s basketball scoring mark. At some point on Sunday Clark, with 3,650 career points, likely will bring down the NCAA overall career scoring record of 3,667 points set by Pete Maravich.

But the one thing hanging over Clark’s head was whether to come back for a fifth season granted by the NCAA to players in the 2020-21 season during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The question has occasionally come up from the media during the season, but with the postseason looming, it was going to be a constant query.

Clark’s announcement on social media on Thursday ended the questions.

“I think just going into Senior Night, having that decision clear not only for myself, but our fans, my teammates. I think that was super important,” Clark said. “And honestly, just getting the weight of the world off my shoulders and being able to enjoy this last month with my teammates, I think is the biggest thing.”

It was not an easy decision, Clark said.

“I would say like I've gone honestly back and forth a little bit, especially early in the year,” Clark said. “I think as the season played out, it became more clear to me. I know I said at the beginning of the year like I definitely just kind of feel in my gut and know in my gut. And I think that's exactly what happened.”

Yet Clark said she has known “for a little while” what she planned to do.

“I've had quite a few conversations with our coaching staff and they're always very supportive in helping me try to understand both sides and see both sides,” Clark said. “And I think especially over the last couple of weeks, my decision has become more clear. I would say.”

“I mean, you're obviously disappointed because you want her to come back. Right?” Iowa coach Lisa Bluder said. “ I mean, she's a tremendous player, and we would have loved to have had her come back. But also, our job is to help them for four years and to support them as best as we can and try to prepare them for the next chapter in their lives.

“Her four years are up even though she could come back for another year. She's ready for a new challenge.”

That challenge will likely be with the Indiana Fever, which owns the No. 1 overall pick in the WNBA draft in April. It wasn’t long after Clark’s announcement on Thursday that the team announced that season tickets were now available, but Clark said she hadn’t spoken to anyone on the Fever yet.

Clark said there will be plenty of emotions on Sunday.

“It’s bittersweet,” she said. “I’m lucky that we do Senior Day after the game is over.”

For now, she said, it’s about embracing the seconds, and her teammates are going to do the same.

“We’ve said this before, but when Caitlin’s light shines, it shines on all of us,” forward Kate Martin said. “What Caitlin is doing individually impacts our entire team, our entire program, our entire state, the entire country. And that’s really cool. We want the best for Caitlin, we’ve always had that in mind. We want her to win all of the awards. We truly, genuinely, are very happy for her.”