Caitlin Clark set to make history before sellout crowd at Carver-Hawkeye Arena
Iowa's senior guard needs eight points against Michigan to set NCAA all-time scoring record
By Susan Harman
IOWA CITY, Iowa – Sunday’s game was a teaser, and a mean one at that.
But as long as she gets to the gym, Iowa All American Caitlin Clark will break the NCAA record for most career points Thursday against Michigan at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. She needs eight points to surpass WNBA star Kelsey Plum, who played at Washington.
“As we’ve gotten closer it’s become more and more of a reality, but it was never something I was chasing,” Clark said. “That’s never why I’m scoring the ball at the rate I am or shooting the ball as many times as I am. I think it’s just kind of what the team needs. My goal is always to go out there and help us win, and obviously at 22-3 we’ve done that quite a bit this year.”
Extraordinary preparations are being made to accommodate the crush of media. The game is sold out, and tickets are going for bigtime prices. Fans will be pumped.
“It’s pretty exciting. It should be a historic day (Thursday),” Iowa coach Lisa Bluder said. “I guess eight points is what we’re looking at, and obviously she’s going to blast it out of the water, and so it’s going to be fun to see how many points she adds on to that.
“I think it’s really important (to reach the record at home). Here you have the Hawk fans who have been just so tremendous for us all year long. And I mean, this is history. So you want to have it on your home court if you can.”
Clark has said all along that her focus is on improvement throughout the year and the success of the team. But now that the day is here she is prepared to soak it all in.
“I think I’m excited,” she said. “It’s going to be a very special night. I’ve got a lot of family coming. That will be a lot of fun. But I think my main focus is just honestly going out there and having a blast with my teammates and enjoying it.”
Clark said her Dowling high school coach, Kristin Meyer, will be at the game as well as both her brothers, Blake and Colin. Meyer hasn’t been able to get away to see one of Clark’s games this season.
“My younger brother must be skipping classes at Creighton, so I’m sure he appreciated the free pass,” Clark joked. “Obviously we need to come out and perform really well. I think (Wednesday’s) practice is really important, but I think for me I’m not anxious about it really at all.”
She shouldn’t be. She’s averaging 33.4 points per game in Big Ten play. She set her career high of 46 at Michigan two years ago.
With the excitement surrounding Clark’s accomplishment Bluder is wary of her teammates being caught up in the moment.
“That’s been the case with our team all year long is that we can’t have the Michael Jordan effect where everyone stands around watching her,” Bluder said.
Bluder and her staff were worried that would come into play at the end of the Nebraska game. While there was a lot of standing around for whatever reason, Clark didn’t score in the final quarter and stayed at 31 points.
“It’s something we’ve talked about, and we need to make sure that that doesn’t happen,” she said.
Meanwhile, Iowa (22-3, 11-2) has a game against Michigan (16-9, 7-6). The Wolverines have had ups and downs. They are the only Big Ten team to defeat Ohio State. They also beat Maryland in overtime and won at Penn State and Illinois. But some of their losses were head-scratchers. They lost at Toledo by 23 points. They have two losses to Nebraska and lost at home to Illinois.
They are one of the best defensive teams in the conference but in some games have seemed lost offensively. They scored only 59 points at home in a loss to Nebraska. They have balanced scoring and a number of good 3-point shooters led by Laila Phelia, Missouri transfer Lauren Hansen, Jordan Hobbs and Greta Kampschroeder.
The Hawkeyes do not want to spoil Clark’s big moment with another stumble. So the coaches will be reminding the players about running their offense more efficiently, rebounding and getting the transition game going.
Bluder also intends to talk to the team, apparently for the first time, about Clark’s upcoming milestone.
“I plan on talking to them about it,” Bluder said. “That might be the first time. I want to talk to them about the significance of it. And that we want to celebrate this. This is really exciting for our university and our basketball program that one of our players is going to do this.”
Thursday’s game is at 7 p.m. and will be streamed on Peacock.