MINNEAPOLIS -- No. 3 Iowa blitzed Penn State early and never let the Lady Lions back in the game, cruising to a 95-62 victory in quarterfinal action at the Big Ten Tournament Friday night. Caitlin Clark finished with 24 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists — Clark's 62nd career double-double — and she bested Steph Curry's single-season three-pointer record in the process, hitting her 163rd triple of the year in the third quarter.
Guard Sydney Affolter, starting in place of the injured Molly Davis, finished with 18 points, nine rebounds, and five assists in 30 minutes of play.
The Deep Three
1. Cold like Caitlin? Despite the scoreboard staying well in Iowa's favor for the duration of the game — PSU got the game down to single digits precisely once in the last 35 minutes of the game, and Iowa responded to that with an 11-0 run — the wire-to-wire win was done largely without the world-class shooting of Clark, who missed her first 11 three-pointers of the day before finishing 2-of-14 from behind the arc, shooting 5-for-19 overall.
"I don't think I've ever seen her miss 11 threes in a row," head coach Lisa Bluder said after the game. "And that could probably include practice and everything else. I've never seen that. I'm really proud of her for the way she handled that."
Indeed, for as much as Clark's cold shooting days have been a source of momentary frustrations for Iowa's irrepressible star guard over the season, Clark seemed remarkably unbothered by her cold day from the field Friday.
"Shooting is just one part of the game," Clark said. "I passed the ball well. Rebounded the ball well. I thought I played pretty good defense. Shot the ball well from the free-throw line, which is always good."
It helps, of course, that Iowa's win was never in doubt.
The Hawkeyes ran out to a 10-0 lead to start the game without Clark even attempting a shot, and as the game progressed Clark's cold shooting didn't deter her from filling up the stat sheet. More importantly, it didn't affect the rest of her teammates, who shot 43% from behind the arc (13-for-30) and paced the Hawkeye attack for the duration of the game.
"That's the best thing for us, to have a game like this," Bluder said, "because now these guys all have great confidence. They have more belief in themselves and each other. If Caitlin has a bad night, okay, we can still survive that. I think it's a good thing that happened tonight."
That all said, Clark's cold shooting is not something Iowa needs any more of for the rest of the season, especially as the class of competition will only improve. With Clark missing shots Friday night, Iowa suffered multiple long cold snaps, including two points in the first six minutes of the second quarter and only a pair of consecutive Taylor McCabe three-pointers in another otherwise glacial six-minute stretch in the third.
"I thought that we withstood some of those runs," Bluder said with. "There's always more you can do, and that's what I love about this game. There's never been a perfect game. There never will be. There's just so many more things you can improve on, even in March. That's why I love it when players want to be coached in March, want to keep improving, want to keep watching film no matter what."
2. No Headband, No Problem? With Davis out of commission for the foreseeable future, Iowa suddenly found itself with a hole in its starting lineup and only the Big Ten Tournament to adjust to it before the big dance.
With Affolter and Kylie Feuerbach (five points, three rebounds, three assists in 19 minutes) starring Friday night, the Hawkeyes looked ready to withstand their missing point guard — again.
"Molly wasn't available the last time we played Penn State, and she really wasn't available when we played Nebraska either," Bluder said. "It helped us [tonight]. Sometimes those bad things can happen, and it makes you stronger. We certainly didn't like it at the time when she was out, but now having to be forced into that position, we're more prepared for it."
READ MORE: The Clark-ettes Strike Back: Iowa's Supporting Cast Flexes on Penn State
After top-seeded Ohio State's loss to eight-seed Maryland Friday — more on that shocking development shortly — fifth-seeded Nebraska is just one win away from meeting Iowa in the Big Ten Championship game Sunday morning, provided Iowa makes it past Michigan, who dispatched three-seed Indiana, 69-53, in the last quarterfinal of Friday night.
Affolter in particular looked ready to take on Davis' role, making 3-of-4 three-pointers, usually on catch-and-shoots, and Affolter's five assists set a new career high.
That doesn't make the task of replacing Davis any less of a team effort, though.
"Syd, I thought, played tremendous," Bluder said. "Taylor [McCabe] went in and played extremely well, whether she's playing point guard, off guard, small forward. She was doing anything for us. Kylie went in and did some great things, had some great takes at the basket, hit a three for us. So I'm pleased with what they did, but we're going to have to continue that, sure."
3. A 1-seed is still in play. Elsewhere in the Big Ten, Maryland skunked top-seeded Ohio State, 82-61, in quarterfinal action Friday. While that takes a rubber match with the Buckeyes off the table (barring a not-implausible rematch in the Final Four), it does clear an easier path on paper for Iowa to win its third-consecutive Big Ten Tournament.
Paper's not much of a place to play basketball, though.
"To be honest, we weren't watching [Ohio State-Maryland] because we were in shootaround," Clark said, "but I think our group is veteran enough to understand how these tournaments go. We've been on the losing side of March Madness. I think we know not to take any game for granted. I think that's what allows us to come out here and have so much fun every single night. We just want to come back to practice every single day, have another game with each other."
Losing to Maryland on a neutral court isn't necessarily disastrous for Ohio State — Maryland came into the day on the right side of the bubble, according to ESPN, and assuredly punched its ticket with the dominant win over OSU — but thusly departed the Buckeyes' last opportunity to strengthen their own resume, while Iowa can put a cherry on top of its regular season.
Ohio State seems like Iowa's last entry point to the 1-line, too, as only highly-seeded UCLA, USC and Stanford (all projected to the 2-line or higher for March Madness) remain in the Pac-12's conference tournament at publication time; UCLA and USC play late Friday night.
Iowa needs to take care of its own business first though, and though that doesn't include an elite resumé-builder game against Indiana, it is a Michigan team who's playing well enough to beat Indiana. That game will tip off as the second semifinal Saturday, projected for a 3:30 PM CT tipoff on BTN.
