By Pat Harty

Caitlin Clark is one of the greatest 3-point shooters in the history of college basketball.

Her ability to create space and make logo 3s by moving to her left or right is truly Steph Curry-like, and what fans love to see.

But as great as Clark is as a shooter, she is arguably a better passer, and those skills were certainly on display in Iowa’s 89-68 victory over Colorado in the NCAA Sweet on Saturday in Albany, New York.

Clark finished with 15 assists, 29 points, six rebounds and just two turnovers.

It is the kind of statistical line in which she and her team are at their best.

Of course, it’s fun to watch Clark, the NCAA’s all-time leading scorer for men and women, torch the nets with 40-point triple-doubles, but Iowa is a much better team when she gets her supporting cast heavily involved offensively, as was the case against Colorado.

The team that crushed Colorado on Saturday looked capable of beating any team in the nation, including top-ranked and undefeated South Carolina, and defending national champion Louisiana State, which is Iowa’s opponent in Monday’s much-anticipated Elite Eight showdown in Albany, New York.

LSU beat Iowa 102-85 in last year’s national championship game.

As for Saturday’s win over Colorado, it proved to be sort of mismatch as Iowa led by double figures for the entire second half.

From the opening tip, Clark and her cohorts were off and running as Iowa blew past the Buffaloes in transition.

The 6-foot Clark is at her absolute best when she is passing or shooting in transition.

But especially passing.

Her uncanny ability to hit her teammates in stride with pin-point accuracy, or to make no-look passes in traffic is arguably Clark’s greatest strength, even better than her long-range shooting, because her teammates are more involved with her as a facilitator.

What separates Clark from every other women’s basketball player is that she is a prolific, record-breaking scorer and a prolific, record-breaking passer with over 1,000 career assists.

She also recently broke Steph Curry’s season record for most 3-pointers made in a collegiate season.

Clark is the best of both worlds, a Steph Curry/Magic Johnson combo package.

And when the West Des Moines native is shredding defenses with her passing in transition, and in half-court sets, Iowa is extremely hard to beat.

“That’s the part that I would say is the hard piece is that she got everybody else involved,” Colorado guard Jaylyn Sherrod said after Saturday’s game. “It just speaks to the type player she is. She’s unselfish and she got everybody else going. I think they had four players in double figures—five. That’s just tough when everybody else is hitting.”

Colorado head coach J.R. Payne echoed those sentiments.

“It’s one thing to guard a great scorer, it’s another thing to guard the leading assist getter in America, as well,” she said of Clark. “That’s what makes her so deadly is not just the scoring, which in and of itself is pretty incredible, but it’s the ability to…find the person that’s open.”

Clark’s greatest attribute among many might be her vision, or maybe her anticipation or her accuracy.

It will be fascinating to watch Clark respond to how LSU defends her in Monday’s game.

LSU head coach Kim Mulkey might rub some the wrong way with her overbearing personality, but she knows how to coach, how to strategize, how to motivate, and how to win, as shown in last year’s national championship game.

If this turns into one of those games where Clark has to score in the high 30s or 40s for Iowa to have a chance to win, Iowa could be in trouble because Clark can’t do it alone.

She needs two or three teammates to score in double figures and she needs to at least hit her average of eight assists per game for the offense to function at its best.

Iowa needs to do against LSU on offense what it did against Colorado with how the offense revolved around Clark’s passing more than her scoring.

The points will come just because Clark is such a talented and versatile scorer.

But it’s her passing that makes her truly special, and what makes her team special.

Clark might have to make a few logo 3s for Iowa to beat LSU on Monday, but her passing and court vision could ultimately cause LSU the most problems.