Caitlin Clark stats last night: How did Iowa star guard perform against Michigan?
Caitlin Clark continues her dominant streak in NCAA women's basketball. Before Thursday's game against Michigan, the Hawkeyes star was well within reach of the all-time scoring record. Eight points away from basketball immortality, placing herself side-by-side with the legends of college hoops.
How did Caitlin Clark perform against Michigan?
Clark smashed the record in fashion on Thursday night, scoring eight straight points for Iowa, launching a 35-feet triple from deep that hit nothing but the bottom of the net, to the delight of the home crowd at 15,500 seater Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
"Ya'll knew I was gonna shoot a logo 3 for the record, come on now," Caitlin Clark said.
The Hawkeyes celebrated with Clark after Iowa coach Lisa Bluder immediately called a timeout after regaining possession of the basketball.
Clark was subbed out of with 1:46 left in the final quarter, shortly after hitting her ninth 3-pointer of the contest. The Iowa star went to the bench to a standing ovation from the packed Carver-Hawkeye Arena. The No. 4 Iowa Hawkeyes defeated the Michigan Wolverines 106-89.
At the end of the game, not only did the 6-foot guard from West Des Moines, Iowa, break the all-time scoring record in women's basketball, but she also amassed an incredible stat line of 49 points, 13 assists, nine 3-pointers and five rebounds, setting a new career-best in points. She shot 16 out of 31 (51.6 FG%) attempts from the field and 9 out of 18 (50.0 3FG%) from the 3-point line.
“I don't know if you could script it any better," Clark said.
In 26 outings, Caitlin Clark has scored 32.8 points, grabbed 6.5 rebounds and dished out 8.5 assists per game. She has been hitting bombs from long-range, averaging 5.4 3-point field goals made per game.
Amazingly, she maintains an impressive 39.9% accuracy from beyond the arc, considering that most of her shots are off-the-dribble attempts and taken a few feet beyond the 3-point line.
“Just to do it in this fashion, I'm very grateful and thankful to be surrounded by so many people who have been my foundation in everything I've done since I was a young little girl,” Caitlin Clark said.
After surpassing Kelsey Plum in the NCAA women's all-time career points ladder, Clark has her sights on another milestone, Pete Maravich's incredible 3,667 points career total. The basketball legend set this NCAA Division 1 record for LSU, averaging 44.2 points per game in only 83 matchups.
Due to NCAA rules preventing Maravich from playing varsity in his freshman year, Maravich couldn't add the 741 points he scored in his first year to his career record. He would have scored 4,408 career points in his college career.
Maravich only played three college seasons before jumping to the NBA, getting picked third overall by the Atlanta Hawks in 1970.
With an average of 32.8 points per game, Caitlin Clark is on pace to surpass Pete Maravich in four games on Iowa's senior day, the regular season finale against Ohio State on March 2.