No. 2 Iowa Overwhelms Badgers

Hawkeyes Roll Wisconsin Tuesday at CHA

Caitlin Clark had chopped down another big name on the career scoring tree, cut down another opponent, and then gave another child the present of her game-worn Nikes.

And as the Iowa senior guard walked across the court after Tuesday’s 96-50 win over Wisconsin at Carver-Hawkeye Arena, she couldn’t help but smile as she slid in her socks a couple of times.

Clark scored 32 points in the victory, giving her 3,306 for her career. She passed Baylor’s Brittney Griner (3,283 points) for fourth place on the NCAA Division I career scoring list.

In the next few weeks, the final three names — Jackie Stiles (3,393), Kelsey Mitchell (3,402) and then Kelsey Plum (3,527) — should be passed by Clark as she roars through the record book.

Almost 12 years ago, Clark, as a child, was in Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines when Griner and Baylor defeated Tennessee in an NCAA tournament regional final.

It’s all come “full circle,” Clark said.

“Just to be in the same vicinity of some of those names that I’m in is super special, and super cool,” Clark said. “They’re people I grew up watching,”

Clark, the nation’s leading scorer at 30.9 points per game, missed her first four shots and didn’t have a field goal in the first nine minutes of this game. But she finished 8 of 18 from the field, 6 of 14 in 3-pointers.

Her historic night did not take away from what the Hawkeyes (18-1 overall, 7-0 Big Ten) did in their 15th consecutive victory. They won for the 29th consecutive time over the Badgers (8-9, 1-6) with blitzes of points — a 13-0 run in the second quarter, a 15-0 run in the third.

Iowa had 25 assists on 29 field goals.

“That’s really good team basketball,” Iowa coach Lisa Bluder said.

“Obviously, they're a pretty well oiled machine,” Wisconsin coach Marisa Moseley said. “They've got some players who've been playing together for a long time. So they know where each other it's going to be at what time. We're a much younger team, a much more inexperienced team, and so I think you saw the difference in that, especially in the second half.”

The Hawkeyes were so efficient, even a bad pass turned into an assist.

The final field goal of the third quarter came when Clark threw a fast-break pass to Kate Martin, who put her hands up to keep the ball from hitting her in the face. The ball ricocheted to Sydney Affolter, who scored right before the buzzer sounded.

“Yeah, that was wild,” Martin said.

“I was trying to break her nose,” Clark joked. “I do it once a year.”

“Yeah, she was trying to throw the ball at my face,” Martin joked back. “It was just a very fast pass and I wasn’t ready for it. My bad. And Syd was right there. So yeah, it worked out.”

Everything was working out for the Hawkeyes. They started the night without forward Hannah Stuelke, who was out with an injury.

Bluder, needing post help, went to a committee of inside players. Sharon Goodman started, and Addison O’Grady and A.J. Ediger filled in off the bench. Combined, the three scored 15 points and had nine rebounds.

Iowa ended up with 38 bench points.

“I really believe this is the strongest bench we’ve had in a long time,” Bluder said. “I have so much confidence going to our bench. Hannah didn’t play tonight, and we’re still able to win by 40 points, or something like that? It’s pretty impressive.”

“Everybody on this team knows they’re valuable,” said Martin, who even got some post work of her own when Bluder went to a small lineup. “Everybody knows you might get an opportunity and you have to step up.”

Martin had 16 points. Affolter had 12. All but one of the 12 Hawkeyes who played scored.

Clark had one final gift, when she gave her Sabrina Ionescu custom Nikes to a young girl sitting courtside.

“That girl had my jersey on,” Clark said. “And it was cute — she was copying our stretches when we were warming up. And I thought it was adorable. She was doing leg swings when we were doing leg swings. She was super happy to be there. I was glad to make her day, and I’m sure she loved it.”

Clark’s history just keeps growing.

“It’s hard for me to wrap my head around,” she said. “I just trying to stay in the moment, enjoy every single second of it.”