No. 3 Iowa 84, No. 14 Indiana 57: Saturday Night Smackdown
In front of a primetime network TV audience and another sellout crowd at Carver-Hawkeye Arena, where 15,000 fans braved some brutal winter weather to watch the greatest show on hardwood, Caitlin Clark did what she does better than anyone else in sports these days: put on a show. After a slow start, Clark finished with 30 points, 11 assists, and multiple highlight reel plays, pacing #3 Iowa to a dominant 84-57 win over #14 Indiana on Saturday night.
The win improved Iowa's record to 17-1 overall and 6-0 in Big Ten play. The Hoosiers fell to 14-2 overall and 5-1 in league play. The win was also Iowa's 14th consecutive win, setting a new record for Iowa under Lisa Bluder. The school-record winning streak is 22 games, set in 1987-88.
THE DEEP THREE
1. There's no I in juggernaut. Clark is a phenom and the sight of her erupting for an incendiary individual performance is one of the most thrilling things in sports right now -- but Clark will almost always get hers in a game. She averages 31.0 ppg and she's scored under 26 points in a game just four times this season.
The difference between Iowa being a good team with a one-woman show superstar and a legitimate Top-3 team and national title contender is when Clark's teammates get strongly involved in a game. That's what happened on Saturday, as multiple teammates stepped up with key contributions. Three other Hawkeyes scored in double figures and Kate Martin joined Clark in posting a double-double on the night, finishing with 10 points and a game-high 12 rebounds.
The biggest star of the supporting cast on this night was "Mighty" Molly Davis, who dazzled with 18 points on 7/10 shooting, to go alongside three rebounds and two assists. More important than Davis' raw production was when it happened. Clark picked up her second foul of the game on an offensive foul with 4:49 to go until halftime. She exited the game with Iowa leading 28-24.
Davis scored seven of Iowa's next nine points on a trio of audacious driving layups and an and-one free throw. Iowa ended up growing its lead (to 37-31) during that stretch and weathered Clark's absence with ease.
In the second half, two of Iowa's other key contributors found their shooting touches as well. Kate Martin contributed with seven rebounds in the first half, but had just two points; she added eight points on 3-of-4 shooting (2-of-3 from deep) after the break. Gabbie Marshall had three points on 1-of-3 shooting before halftime, but went 3-of-4 from outside in the second half to continue her recent hot form from long range and finished with 12 points.
After the game, Clark cited the contributions of the entire team as a key factor in the blowout nature of the win. "[It was] a balanced team effort," said Clark. "Our first quarter was a little slow, but once we started to really get it going in the 2nd half, I thought we played really really well."
"I thought Sharon [Goodman] came and played well, Addie [O'Grady] gave us really great minutes, Syd [Affolter] made a big 3, Gabbie Marshall made big 3s," added Clark. "It was a team win."
Again, Clark still got hers -- her 3-point shot started falling with more regularity in the second and third quarters (6-of-9) -- but what really enabled Iowa to pull away from the Hoosiers was the increased contributions from everyone else.
Clark is hard enough to defend, but Iowa as a team becomes virtually impossible to defend when the ball movement is as crisp as it was tonight and shots are falling for players up and down the lineup. Iowa hit 15 three-pointers in the game -- but nine of them came from players other than Caitlin Clark, which is a nightmare for opposing defenses.
2. Defense wins championships -- and big games. It turns out Phil Parker's unit isn't the only group in Iowa City that can play smothering defense. Iowa has a reputation as an offense-first team (not undeservedly), but it was defense that allowed Iowa to blow this game open in the second half.
To wit: Indiana scored 20 points in the second quarter -- and 20 points in the entire second half.
After the game, Caitlin Clark cited the defense as a key factor in Iowa's win as well. "It started on the defensive end," Clark said. "To only give up 57 points to this team that's really good offensively [was huge]."
Indiana entered the game averaging 80.9 ppg and 19.3 apg; Iowa held the Hoosiers to 57 points (their lowest point total this season by far) and just 12 assists. An IU team that led the nation in field goal percentage (51.5%) shot just 42.6% from the floor in this game. The Hoosiers shot 39% from 3-point range entering this game, but made just 25% (5-of-20) in this game.
Did Indiana simply miss some open looks? Definitely. It would be a mistake to assume that the Hoosiers will shoot this poorly when these two teams rematch in Bloomington next month (February 22). After scoring 26 points in the paint in the first half, Indiana had just four points in the paint in the second half, missing several shots near the rim.
But Iowa's defense deserves credit as well. They contested the Hoosiers' shots, disrupted their rhythm on offense, and forced the Hoosiers into a lot of jump shots. They also did a good job of reducing Indiana star Mackenzie Holmes' impact on the game. Holmes had 12 points on 5-of-6 shooting in the first half, repeatedly going to the right, her preferred side. In the second half, Holmes had just four points on 1-of-7 shooting, as Iowa did a better job of forcing her to the left.
Overall, Indiana shot just 28% from the floor in the second half (7-of-25) and 22% (2-of-9) from 3-point range. Defense like that is how a close game becomes a one-sided rout.
3. Caitlin Clark: still pretty amazing! While the play of the entire team deserves plenty of kudos tonight -- their play is the biggest reason this game turned into a blowout -- Clark certainly deserves her flowers as well. There's just no other player today who plays at such a high level on such a consistent basis. She delivers a superstar performance every single time she steps on the floor.
Her outside shot wasn't falling early on (0-of-6), so she began attacking the rim more and picked up a trio of layups. In the second quarter, her three-point shot finally found its rhythm and she made 4-of-5 triples, including a pair in the final 47 seconds of the quarter that gave Iowa a six-point lead entering half. Even after missing her first six three-pointers, Clark still finished with 20 first-half points.
In the second half, Clark poured in another 10 points in the third quarter, including a few of her signature logo 3-pointers.
Do not ever take for granted that she can hit a step-back 3-pointer from the beak of Iowa's mid-court tigerhawk logo as easily as another player might make a free throw lane jumper.
But it wasn't just the logo 3s that stood out about Clark's game in the second half. After only notching two assists in the first half, Clark dished out nine assists in the second half, getting multiple teammates involved and turning Iowa's offense into the finely-tuned Death Star that erased Indiana from the contest in the second half.
There was a scare late in the game as Clark appeared to roll her ankle and exited the game with a limp, immediately heading for the tunnel toward the locker room. But she returned to the scorer's table moments later and re-entered the game. After the game, Clark affirmed that she was fine. "Just tweaked it a little," Clark said, "[I'm] all good, though."
That sound you hear is a sigh of relief from the entire Iowa fanbase -- and a shudder of resignation from the rest of the Big Ten. The best player in the country isn't slowing down on her quest to rewrite the record books and lead Iowa to ever-greater heights.