Iowa vs. Illinois highlights: Caitlin Clark notches triple-double, draws ...

26 Feb 2024

USA TODAY

Iowa vs Illinois highlights Caitlin Clark notches tripledouble draws

Caitlin Clark and No. 4 Iowa downed Illinois 101-85. Look back at the biggest moments, best plays and more from the Hawkeyes' win over the Illini.

USA TODAY Sports staff

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Caitlin Clark breaks the NCAA women's basketball all-time scoring record

Iowa's Caitlin Clark has become the leading all-time scorer in NCAA women's basketball. Lindsay Schnell explains what's next for the rising star.

The No. 4 Iowa Hawkeyes (24-4) are firmly back in the winning column after beating the Illinois Illini (13-13) 101-85 in a Big 10 matchup back home at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City on Sunday.

Lisa Bluder’s squad played team basketball and had four players score double digits. They drained 17 3-point shots, their second highest output from behind the arc of the season.

Clark was the leading scorer with her fifth triple-double of the season and 16th of her career. She finished with 24 points, 15 rebounds and 10 assists.

For the Illini, Makira Cook had 26 points.

Ahead of the Illinois matchup, Iowa revealed a No. 22 decal on the court to mark the point beyond the arc where Caitlin Clark broke the record for most career points in women’s basketball history.

Iowa had lost two of their last three heading into the matchup. The win in between the losses was over Michigan where the star senior broke the record.

The Hawkeyes have two more games in the regular season, away at Minnesota and then hosting Ohio State. That means Clark has two more chances to pass “Pistol Pete” Maravich to become the college basketball all-time leading scorer.

USA TODAY Sports provided updates, highlights and more from Iowa's win over Illinois below:

This was not the dominant shooting day for Caitlin Clark — it was the dominant all-around day.

Clark recorded a 24-point, 15-rebound, 10-assist triple double as the No. 4 Iowa Hawkeyes routed Illinois Sunday, 101-85. This marked Clark’s fifth triple-double of the season and the 16th of her career.

Clark is now 50 points shy of matching former LSU guard Pete Maravich’s all-time NCAA men’s and women’s scoring record of 3,667 points.

Clark shot 6-of-18 from the field and 5-of-14 from beyond the arc, but she was instrumental in pushing the pace of play all game long. Clark often led fast break opportunities that never allowed Illinois to settle into their halfcourt defense.

The Illini never posed a real threat, as Iowa led the game wire-to-wire. Illinois, in particular, struggled from 3-point range, making just 8-of-23 attempts, while the Hawkeyes more than doubled the Illini output with 17 made threes on 45.9% shooting from deep.

Iowa’s ball movement destabilized Illinois on defense all game, as the Hawkeyes assisted on 28 of their 36 field goals.

Iowa improved to 24-4, while Illinois fell to 13-13.

It wasn’t Caitlin Clark’s most impressive scoring effort, but the star senior managed to notch a triple-double in Iowa’s game against Illinois.

She earned the mark with her 10th assist of the game. With 6:40 left in the fourth quarter, Clark tossed the ball to Hannah Stuelke, who jumped for a layup to put the Hawkeyes up 88-70 over their Big 10 foe.

The 10 assists join Clark’s 24 points and 13 rebounds. She checked out of the matchup with 2:54 left in the game.

According to the FS1 broadcast, this is her fifth triple-double this season and 16th of her historic career.

While Clark was on the bench in the middle of the third to get a quick rest, the Hawkeyes maintained their sizable lead.

Iowa is up 13 headed into the fourth quarter, and the Hawkeyes have done an excellent job all game long of sharing the ball.

Clark, who has pushed the pace of play and distributed to her teammates, enters the fourth quarter three assists shy of her fifth triple-double of the season. She has 15 points on 4-of-14 shooting, 11 rebounds and seven assists. At the start of the third quarter, she hit a pair of early 3-pointers, but her long-distance shooting against the Illini has been spotty; Clark has made just 3-of-12 shots beyond the arc.

Still, the Hawkeyes have assisted on 21 of their 27 field goals and are up 74-61 at the start of the fourth.

So far in the game, Caitlin Clark has shown her skills as a teammate more than as a shooter.

But midway through the third quarter, the senior shot and made back-to-back 3-point shots.

The pair of scores ended a 2:18 scoring drought for the Hawkeyes and furthered their lead to 58-44.

Clark has a double double with 15 points and 10 rebounds. She has a chance at a triple double with six assists and a quarter and a half left in the game.

Though it hasn’t been Clark’s best shooting day, she has found several ways to impact the game. More importantly for the Hawkeyes, they opened a 16-point lead on Illinois and look to be in complete control.

Clark scored 9 points on 2-of-9 shooting — including going just 1-of-7 from 3-point range — but she’s on pace for a triple double; Clark has added eight rebounds and six assists.

She remains 65 points away from setting the NCAA all-time scoring record.

Clark has been the spark in Iowa’s offense, grabbing defensive rebounds and pushing the pace up the court. With all the defensive attention paid to Clark, she has often sliced through gaps in Illinois’ defense and then dished out to teammates when the defense collapsed on her.

Iowa takes a 50-34 lead into the half.

Iowa is up 40-22 at a timeout midway through the second quarter.

Their lead is boosted by going 6-for-11 in 3-point shots. Kate Martin started the Hawkeyes’ scoring in the second quarter with a trey. Molly Davis followed with a 3-point shot of her own.

Two other areas where the Hawkeyes are controlling the game are ball movement and fast break points. Iowa is pushing the pace and has already scored 12 fast break points — compared to four for Illinois — and the Hawkeyes have recorded 12 assists on 14 field goals. - Victoria Hernandez and Lorenzo Reyes

The women's college basketball game between the No. 4 Iowa Hawkeyes and Illinois Fighting Illini  is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. in Iowa City, Iowa. It will be broadcast nationally on FS1 and streamed live on the Fox Sports app.  

After a blazing hot start, the Hawkeyes cooled some as the first quarter wrapped up. Still, Iowa took a commanding 12-point lead into the break.

After taking a quick breather, Clark re-entered the game with a couple of minutes left in the first and was mostly a distributor. She did draw a foul late in the period, eventually sinking both free throws. She leads all players with 9 points on 2-of-6 shooting, including 1-of-4 from beyond the arc. Clark has also added four rebounds.

The Hawkeyes are shooting 50%, while Illinois has struggled from the field, connecting on only 7-of-18 shots (38.9%).

With the second quarter set to begin, the Hawkeyes are up 30-18.

Caitlin Clark is already the all-time women’s basketball leading scorer. She became the first woman to reach 3,600 points with a pair of free throws in the first quarter of Iowa's matchup against Illinois, per the FS1 broadcast. The senior has seven points in the game and the free throws put the Hawkeyes up 19-10.

The Hawkeyes zipped out to a quick start in their game against the Illini. Sophomore Hannah Stuelke scored the first basket, a layup. Caitlin Clark followed with a jumper. Kate Martin then added five points off a layup and a 3-point shot to give Iowa the 9-0 lead.

Iowa is wearing pink-trimmed uniforms for its game against Illinois as part of the Play 4 Kay initiative. The campaign aims to raise awareness and funds for breast cancer research in honor of legendary North Carolina State women's basketball coach Kay Yow. The Hall of Famer battled breast cancer on-and-off for 22 years. She passed away in 2009.

Fans might be wondering why Caitlin Clark is wearing the nameplate "Keough" on her jersey. It's because each member of the Hawkeyes is paying tribute to a loved one during their Play 4 Kay breast cancer awareness game.

Do you love Caitlin Clark or do you LOVE Caitlin Clark? 

Love her, hate her, like her or think she’s overrated, one thing is for sure: The senior guard from Iowa has serious game.  Not sure exactly where you stand? We can help you out. This USA TODAY Sports quiz will reveal the answer to a crucial question as we prep for March Madness: What kind of Caitlin Clark fan are you? – Lindsay Schnell

Four-time WNBA champion Sue Bird believes Caitlin Clark's game will translate well into the WNBA.

"I do think she has a chance at having a lot of success early," Bird said during an appearance on "The Sports Media Podcast" with Richard Deitsch, which airs in full on Thursday. Bird cites the Iowa star's range as the key weapon to her success. (Clark did break the women's all-time NCAA scoring record last week on a 35-foot logo shot, after all.) "I think a lot of it comes down to her long-distance shooting. That is her separator. You’re not really used to guarding people out there," Bird explained. – Cydney Henderson

Clark is 6-foot. Big guards have become more common in women’s basketball the last decade or so, and Clark’s size absolutely helps her because she’s able to see over defenders on the break and helps her get vertical separation when she goes up for a shot.  

Also of note: Clark, who’s pretty thin, worked hard last summer to put on eight pounds of muscle and that has made a huge difference in her game, particularly when she drives to the rim. 

Kelsey Plum’s record stood for seven years. Iowa coach Lisa Bluder thinks Caitlin Clark’s could stand even longer.

Clark has 3,569 points, and still has the rest of this season to play. Maybe next year, too. Clark is eligible to play a fifth COVID year and has not yet said whether she plans to return to Iowa or go to the WNBA.

“This record is going to stand for a long time and I’m just glad she’s wearing black and gold,” Bluder said.

Bluder also said she loved that Clark set the record with a logo 3, the shot that’s become her signature. Clark also set a career-high with 49 points.

“You do it, you do it well, girl,” Bluder said. – Nancy Armour

The Greatest Show in Sports is humming along, barnstorming the nation, hitting logo threes and breaking records as February works its way to the madness of March, bringing us closer to the answer to two intriguing questions:

Will Caitlin Clark stay at Iowa for her fifth COVID year or will she go to the WNBA? And, is she going to represent the United States at the Olympics this summer in Paris?

The first question is totally in her control and all hers to answer. Does Clark, a fourth-year senior who gets a COVID year if she wants it, come back to Iowa to sink three-point shots and thread no-look passes and pack arenas around the Big Ten and the nation, which will be basically one and the same by the time the 2024-25 season begins? Or does she go to the WNBA, where she will be the No. 1 pick in the draft and immediately become the best-known pro in the women’s game, even if there will be the inevitable learning curve playing with and against the best players in the world? Read more from Christine Brennan’s column.

By now you've probably heard that Iowa All-American Caitlin Clark, the reigning national player of the year, has a tendency to sell out any arena she plays in. But for a closer look at #Clarkonomics — as ESPN analyst Debbie Antonelli has termed it — USA TODAY reporter Jim Sergent worked up a graphic look at just how much Iowa fans will spend and how far they'll travel to see Clark in person. The numbers are telling, to say the least. 