Caitlin Clark added another chapter to her incredible Iowa legacy Tuesday night, drilling a logo three to barely beat the buzzer and knock off visiting Michigan State, 76-73, at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

Clark finished with 40 points (her tenth career 40-point performance) and five assists in the win, while Hannah Stuelke added 15 points, eight rebounds and one assist.. to Clark for the game-winning moment of magic:

Molly Davis also added eight points and seven rebounds, but all eight points were absolutely clutch in the moments they came. Two points in particular drew some controversy, though, after a shooting foul was incorrectly given to her — though the foul washed itself out in a matter of seconds, setting the stage for the real final act of Clark's performance.

A big reason we watch sports is unpredictability. Every time you’re sure something will happen, the game surprises you in some way that ensures you’ll tune in next time.

Iowa’s matchup with Michigan State was filled with more twists and turns than a great suspense novel. But like a good drama, it ended with a bang that Hawkeye fans could’ve seen coming if they followed along carefully enough.

The first twist in this drama arguably occurred before the game even began.

This matchup with Sparty seemed unremarkable when the Big Ten schedule was released; Robyn Fralick was entering her first season in East Lansing, taking over a team two years removed from the NCAA tourney and predicted to finish middle-to-worse in the Big Ten.

Instead, the Spartans raced to a 11-2 start and are ranked 14th in the NET, also receiving votes in the latest AP poll. And unlike Minnesota on Saturday, the Spartans backed up their record with a performance to push Iowa to the brink.

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Iowa started completely out of sorts on offense, missing their first five shots and committing two quick turnovers. Michigan State capitalized on those miscues for a quick 8-0 lead, and a nervous energy was already (rightfully) creeping into Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

A year or two ago, Iowa might’ve started pressing, trying to get everything back as fast as possible — to mixed results.

Instead, this veteran version of the Hawkeyes locked in defensively.

The Hawks contested everything, started forcing turnovers, and held the Spartans scoreless for the next four minutes. The defensive stops led to good looks offensively, and Iowa went on a 14-0 run of its own. Iowa kept its momentum going and closed the first with a 25-17 lead.

Iowa and Michigan State have two of the best offenses in the country. Both average over 90 points per game. Through a quarter and a half, both seemed on pace for a shootout finish. Iowa held a 35-28 lead with 4:01 to play in the first half, but was one Michigan State run away from trouble.

Michigan State got its run to get back into things, but it came from the place few expected: defense.

Iowa didn’t score in the final 4 minutes of the first half, primarily because Michigan State always got back on defense to stop transition and Iowa couldn’t execute well in the half court.

Last year when the Hawks struggled in the half-court, they always had a huge low-post scoring threat in Monika Czinano that could stop scoring droughts.

The Hawkeyes just don’t have that this year. Stuelke has turned into the team’s second scorer, but she rarely posts up an opposing big in the low block. Instead, Stuelke’s baskets are a function of athletic drives, offensive rebounds, and transition. When opposing defenses are set and packing the lane, Stuelke sometimes struggles to find her shot.

Several different Hawkeyes did get good looks near the basket in those final few minutes, but each was contested and each managed to rim out.

Michigan State’s offense wasn’t great in that period either, but the Spartans did close on a 9-0 run to take a 37-35 lead into halftime.

Iowa’s half-court offense continued to struggle in the first five minutes of the third quarter. This time, it was open threes that were the Hawkeyes’ downfall. The Hawks started the quarter 0-6 from deep and scored just four points in the first five minutes. Luckily Michigan State wasn’t much better, and the game devolved into the type of defensive slog any upset-minded foe would be looking for.

With just over two minutes left in the third, Iowa was in the danger zone. The Hawks were down 51-45 and narrowly avoided going down nine when MSU guard Julia Ayrault missed an open three that looked good out of the hand.

Then Clark remembered that she’s, y'know, the best player in college basketball. To that point, Clark had been as up-and-down as the game itself. She scored 19 points in the game’s first 14 minutes, then was held scoreless to this point.

With Iowa in real trouble, Clark ended the third quarter on a tear. She assisted a Stuelke basket at the 1:55 mark, then hit a three, made a layup, and hit another three to close the half. Clark’s heroics helped Iowa finish the third on a 10-4 run, and the game was tied at 55 headed to the fourth.

Clark and Iowa stayed hot in the early fourth quarter, and a Clark three with 5:36 to play gave Iowa a 64-57 lead.

With 5:13 to play, Iowa got a break. Michigan State tried an entry pass to Jocelyn Tate, but Molly Davis and Sydney Affolter were guarding her close. Davis seemed to grab Tate’s arm and was whistled for a foul.

Just as she was, though, things went crazy. Tate flailed her arm to emphasize the foul and narrowly missed hitting Davis in the face. Tate then threw a knee at Affolter, who was off balance after a steal attempt. The contact seemed relatively light, but because Affolter was off balance, she went sprawling to the floor.

The referees reviewed the play and awarded Tate an intentional foul. Iowa got two free throws that Clark made and the ball. Suddenly the Hawks were up 9 and had all the momentum.

Michigan State wouldn’t go down without a fight. After the controversy, the Spartans hit their next five shots in a row to get back into the game. A layup by Michigan State’s Julia Ayrault with 1:27 left tied the game at 71. Both teams then missed baskets, and Clark got a huge block with 42 seconds left to get Iowa the ball back.

With 29 seconds left, Davis got the ball in the corner and set herself to shoot the biggest shot of the game. Michigan State’s DeeDee Hageman rushed out to contest and left her feet. Davis then pump-faked and seemed to begin dribbling towards the basket when Hageman crashed into her. Instead of awarding a regular foul, the referees chose to give Davis three free throws instead.

Peacock’s announcers both thought the referees got the shooting-foul aspect of the call wrong, and the replay backed them up. Davis pretty clearly wasn’t in the act of shooting when she got hit.

Thing is, the call didn’t really matter. Davis hit 2-of-3 free throws, and Hageman hit a layup 6 seconds later. Iowa got the ball with 23 seconds left, in position to take a potential game-winner. The game would’ve been in essentially the same situation — Iowa ball, tie game, shot clock off — if the foul on Davis had been called on the floor instead.

Like the game, Iowa’s final possession was messy. The Hawks were trying to get the ball to Stuelke at the top of the key, then run Clark off of her, but the timing was off. Davis had trouble getting Stuelke the ball and she didn’t catch until there were 4.5 seconds left.

Then Iowa faced another issue: Clark wasn’t getting open. Clark didn't shake her defender until she had 1.2 seconds left to create. Driving wasn’t an option. Clark wasn’t open enough to just jack a shot.

Instead, she turned to her trusty step back, to the left as she prefers. Clark set for the shot with fractions of a second left. About as much time as it took for you to read this sentence. Her feet were firmly planted at the end of the beak in the Tigerhawk logo. Her release was as lightning-quick as it needed to be. One-tenth of a second later, and Iowa would’ve been facing overtime.

For a moment, the shot could be anything. A clank off the front rim. Hard off the back. Even an airball, given the degree of difficulty.

But this was Caitlin Clark, ever the hero of the story, taking the game-winning shot. There was only one real ending. The ball sailed through the bottom of the net as clean and pure as any Clark had shot all season. The crowd erupted as swiftly and loudly as the ball ripped through the net, and Iowa was a winner at the buzzer at Caitlin's hands again.

Iowa was far from its best tonight. The offense was again too Clark-dependent and the defense let a nine-point lead fizzle in the back half of the fourth quarter. But when the game was on the line, Iowa stayed true to the plot and beat another very good basketball team.

Up next is a trip to Rutgers (6-10, 0-3) on Friday, January 5. That game tips off at 5 PM CT on the Big Ten Network.