Iowa Wins on Clark Buzzer-Beater
The celebration follows Caitlin Clark, no matter which way she goes.
Her 3-pointer right before the horn sounded gave fourth-ranked Iowa a 76-73 win over Michigan State on Tuesday night.
And when she saw the shot was good, Clark dashed toward the south end of Carver-Hawkeye Arena, arms out in her welcome-to-the-show pose and soaking in everything from the raucous sellout crowd.
Clark’s shot came at just the right time. A see-saw game in which the Hawkeyes could never get away from the Spartans didn’t need to go overtime in Iowa’s collective mind
“I almost started laughing,” Clark said. “I think everybody was like, ‘Oh, thank God, this game's over with, we don’t have to go to overtime.' You know, it was ugly, but it was a win, and that's what matters at the end of the day.”
It was back at the end of last season when Clark’s buzzer-beating three gave Iowa a win over Indiana, and in that game she ran to the north side of the arena.
Different direction this time. Same magic.
“Honestly, when it left my hand, I knew it was going in,” Clark said.
“Caitlin,” Iowa coach Lisa Bluder said, “has ice in her veins. Everybody knows it.
Clark finished the game with 40 points on a night when she went scoreless for more than 14 minutes between the middle of the second quarter and late in the third.
Then she started hitting shots, including the last, big one.
Michigan State had tied the game at 73 on DeeDee Hagemann’s layup with 22 seconds left. That was an awful lot of time left for the Hawkeyes.
After a timeout, the Hawkeyes worked the clock down, with Molly Davis dribbling most of the seconds. Davis passed the ball to Hannah Stuelke, who lost the ball momentarily, but recovered to get the ball to Clark for the winning shot.
Davis didn’t get a good pick on Michigan State’s Moira Joiner, who was guarding Clark. Joiner tried for a steal from Stuelke, and that freed Clark for the game-winner.
“I think it almost kind of worked out in my favor, because my girl almost went for the steal a little bit,” Clark said. “I was able to get to my step-back to the left, which is my favorite shot.”
“I thought we played great defense,” Michigan State coach Robyn Fralick said. “She made a really hard shot.”
Davis, straight across the floor from the shot, knew it was good.
“Absolutely,” she said. “Without a doubt.”
The 10th 40-plus scoring game of Clark’s career wasn’t easy. She was 14-of-34 from the field, and although her scoring drought seemed long, none of the Hawkeyes were scoring, either.
The Hawkeyes had a 10-point lead late in the first quarter, but their offense struggled after that. Iowa shot just 25% in the second quarter, and the Spartans closed the half with a 9-0 run to lead 37-35.
“That second quarter was one of the worst ones I’ve seen of Iowa basketball,” Bluder said. “I was kind of frustrated we quit running our offense in the second quarter, and that allowed them to get back in the game.”
The 10-point second quarter was Iowa’s lowest of the season.
There were five lead changes and six ties, but no one seemed to control the game.
It was the 11th consecutive win for the Hawkeyes (14-1, 3-0 Big Ten). Certainly not easy.
But certainly fun.
“We found a way to win,” Bluder said. “That’s what good teams do — find a way to win.”
