Published Mar 1, 2022
Caitlin Clark named Big Ten Player of the Year
HawkeyeReport.com
Staff

IOWA CITY, Iowa — University of Iowa sophomore Caitlin Clark has been named the Big Ten Conference Player of the Year, as voted on by the coaches and media, the conference office announced Tuesday.

Clark also earned unanimous first team All-Big Ten honors (coaches & media). Senior Monika Czinano earned first team All-Big Ten accolades from the coaches and the media, and junior McKenna Warnock earned second team All-Big Ten Honors by the media and was honorable mention from the coaches. Redshirt junior Kate Martin was named Iowa’s Sportsmanship Award honoree.

Clark, a native of West Des Moines, Iowa, is the seventh Hawkeye – eighth time – in program history to be named Big Ten Player of the Year and the fourth in five seasons.

Clark averaged 27.5 points, 8.3 assists, and 7.9 rebounds per game in 27 games. She registered 17 20-plus point games, including 10 30-plus point games. She recorded back-to-back 30-point triple doubles in January, joining the likes of Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Russell Westbrook, James Hardin, Luka Dončić and Giannis Antetokounmpo as the only NBA, WNBA, Division I men’s and women’s basketball to record the feat since 2000. Clark has 1,542 career points and was the fastest Division I player, men's or women's, to reach 1,500 career points over the last 20 seasons.

Clark leads the nation in total assists (225), total points (743), assists per game (8.3), points per game (27.5), and triple doubles (5). She ranks third in free throw attempts (199), fourth in field goals made (247), 17th in 3-pointers made (75), 18th in 3-pointers per game (2.78), 19th in double doubles (14) and 23rd in defensive rebounds per game (7.5) and free throw percentage (.874).

Czinano earns the third All-Big Ten postseason honor of her career. In 26 games this season, Czinano averaged 20.7 points and 6.1 rebounds. The Watertown, Minnesota, native registered two double-doubles. She ranks third in the nation in field-goal percentage (.669), fifth in field goals made (228), 14th in points per game (20.7) and 19th in total points (538).

Warnock earned her first postseason Big Ten honors, averaging 12.4 points and 6.9 rebounds per game in 22 games this season. She registered two double doubles on the season, led Iowa in 3-point percentage (.451) and averaged 1.2 steals.

Martin averaged 6.8 points, 4.7 rebounds and 3.2 assists in 27 games. Martin recorded seven double-figure scoring games and tallied eight games with seven or more rebounds.

The Hawkeyes open the 2022 Big Ten Tournament on Friday, March 4 at 5:30 p.m. (CT) on B1G Network. Iowa faces the winner of the Northwestern versus Minnesota game.