By Pat Harty

IOWA CITY, Iowa – I can now always say for the rest of my life that I had the privilege to cover Caitlin Clark’s final Big Ten regular-season game on Sunday at Carver-Hawkeye Arena, and as always, she didn’t disappoint.

Iowa’s dynamic senior guard was a little off with her perimeter shot as she only made 10-of-26 field-goal attempts, but she still finished with 35 points, nine assists, six rebounds and three steals in a 93-83 victory against second-ranked Ohio State.

The Big Ten’s regular-season champion from Columbus fought valiantly and kept making mini runs, but Clark and her cohorts weren’t to be denied.

This was their special day to share with their devoted fans and nobody was going to ruin it, not even the second-ranked team in the country.

“It’s so fun and so special what we’ve built here,” Clark said in her post-game press conference. “These are the moments you dream of, and obviously, our fans were incredible. It kind of feels like you’re living in a little bit of delusion because this is just awesome.

“And to celebrate our seniors and four other people that have meant so much to me and given so much to this program, it’s really awesome.”

With all the hype surrounding Clark, and with the Senior Day ceremony, it’s easy to overlook that Iowa faced a big challenge on the court in the Buckeyes, who already had clinched the Big Ten regular-season title.

Clark and her cohorts were more than ready for the challenge as Iowa led almost from start to finish.

Instead of being distracted by all that was taking place outside of the game, or rattled by the pressure to win, Clark and her cohorts took care of business.

“I felt like we played a very dominant basketball game,” Clark said. “It felt like we were in control of the game the entire time.”

Clark’s greatness can be measured in so many ways, but perhaps her most incredible accomplishment, even greater than being the NCAA’s all-time scoring leader, is that she has turned Iowa women’s basketball games into a must-see event for so many, locally and nationally.

She has made Iowa women’s basketball the hottest ticket in town, and maybe in all of sports judging from how fans flock to wherever she plays.

Fans started showing up hours before the tip-off of Sunday’s game and some even used Iowa’s Senior Day and the unseasonably warm weather as an opportunity to tailgate in the parking lot across the street from the arena.

There was a man dressed in a kilt and playing a bag pipe in the parking lot about an hour before tip-off.

The fact that Holly Rowe from ESPN served as the emcee for the Senior Day ceremony that was held after the game is yet another testimony to Clark’s enormous impact.

ESPN’s College Game Day Show aired from 10-11 a.m. at Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Sunday, and the arena was pretty much full by the time it started.

Basketball legends Lynette Woodard and Maya Moore both attended Sunday’s game and received loud ovations from the fans.

Clark just recently broke Woodard’s all-time scoring record, while Moore was a player that Clark idolized while growing up in West Des Moines.

Hall of Fame baseball pitcher Nolan Ryan traveled from Texas to watch Sunday’s game, while rap star Travis Scott also made the trip to Iowa City, as did “Jake” from the State Farm commercials.

Iowa also played host to some elite recruits, so yes, this was an event more than a basketball game.

What we’re witnessing with Caitlin Clark is truly a phenomenon and something that we’ll probably never see again.

She broke Pete Maravich’s all-time NCAA scoring record in the first half of Sunday’s game, and yet she is probably a better passer than shooter.

Clark arrived at Iowa during a global pandemic, and she played her first season in mostly empty arenas.

The Iowa women also used to play home games in which drapes were hung from the rafters to hide the empty seats.

Fans now pay hundreds, and even thousands of dollars, to watch the Iowa women play, and wherever Iowa plays, home or away, the arena is always sold out.

Clark has been described as being the Taylor Swift of women’s basketball, and that probably isn’t an exaggeration.

Clark is the face of women’s college basketball and she will soon be the face of the WNBA when she enters that league in the summer.

But as Iowa head coach Lisa Bluder pointed out after Sunday’s victory, the season isn’t over.

Up next is the postseason and that’s where Clark’s legend climbed to a new level after she led Iowa to an NCAA runner-up finish last season.

“Even though this is senior day, we aren’t done,” Bluder said.

The only downside to Sunday’s game was that Iowa senior guard Molly Davis suffered what appeared to be a serious leg injury. She was carried off the floor in the first half and didn’t return until the Senior Day ceremony with help from a wheelchair.

The seniors stayed on the court after the game to celebrate with family and friends and that was special for me because I had the opportunity to speak with Clark’s grandparents and with two of my former 1982 West Des Moines Dowling classmates, who are Clark’s aunt and uncle.

As great as Clark is as a player, she couldn’t do this by herself.

Former Iowa All-America center Megan Gustafson helped pave the way by showing Clark that she could have both team and individual success as a Hawkeye, while Clark’s teammates instead of resenting her stardom have embraced it, which says a lot about them.

Clark always makes it a point to thank her family for being the foundation to her success, and as someone who knows one side of her family – the Nizzi family – she comes from incredible stock.

Family is one of the reasons Clark as a five-star recruit chose to be a Hawkeye because she wanted them nearby for love and support.

Clark’s grandfather, Bob Nizzi, was the head football coach and athletic director during my four years at Dowling, and he is the definition of class and character.

It was a privilege to speak with him and with his wife after Sunday’s game and to give them both a hug.

I also had the opportunity to speak with their daughter, Kathy, who was in my graduating class at Dowling, and who is now married to my former high school basketball teammate and classmate, Tom Faber.

This has to almost feel surreal for them, the way their niece has become a sports icon, and with how skillfully she has handled everything that goes with it.

I joked with Kathy and Tom that my biggest claim to fame is that I was in the same high school graduating class with Caitlin Clark’s aunt and uncle, but I really wasn’t joking.

Tom Faber said he knew Caitlin would be great as a Hawkeye, but he never could have imagined that she would reach this level of greatness.

Nobody could have imagined this except for maybe Caitlin Clark.