Iowa
Caitlin Clark’s record-setting night fuels No. 6 Iowa in 108-60 win at Minnesota
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Caitlin Clark became the all-time leading women’s scorer in major college basketball by scoring 33 points to pass Lynette Woodard and post her 17th career triple-double for sixth-ranked Iowa in a 108-60 victory over Minnesota on Wednesday night.
“We just played free and had a lot of fun tonight across the board,” said Clark, who also broke the NCAA single-season record by sinking eight 3-pointers for a total of 156 in 2023-24.
Clark now has 3,650 career points. Woodard had 3,649 points for Kansas from 1977-81, before the NCAA sanctioned the sport. Earlier this month, Clark broke Kelsey Plum’s NCAA scoring record (3,527 points).
“Tonight is the night of the real record,” coach Lisa Bluder said.
Gabbie Marshall scored 16 points to pass the career 1,000-point mark for the Hawkeyes (25-4, 14-3), who were eliminated from contention for the Big Ten regular season title earlier in the evening when second-ranked Ohio State beat Michigan. Iowa went 22 for 39 as a team from 3-point range, the most ever allowed by Minnesota and the most makes in Hawkeyes program history.
Clark had a big hand in that, both shooting and distributing. She had 12 assists and 10 rebounds.
“I love passing the ball and setting my teammates up for success, and I think that more than anything is going to let us have a lot of success in March,” Clark said. “It can’t just be me all the time.”
Amaya Battle had 18 points for the Gophers (15-13, 5-12) on a tough night of trying to guard the reigning AP Player of the Year, who went 8 for 14 from 3-point range to delight the Hawkeyes-heavy crowd announced at Williams Arena’s official capacity of 14,625. This was the 11th sellout in 11 true road games this season for Clark and her crew and tied for the biggest at home in Gophers program history.
Clark left little doubt she’d reach Woodard’s record by dribbling left off a screen and swishing a 3-pointer from the top of the key just 13 seconds into the game. She swished her first four 3-pointers, three of them from extra deep, and had 15 points in the first 3:18 of the game.
The heat check came midway through the first quarter, a flick from the top that bounced off the back rim and prompted a half-hearted “Overrated!” chant from a few wise guys in the Minnesota student section.
Clark had five assists in the third quarter and passed up several opportunities to shoot in the second half in favor of finding her teammates. She only needed three points to pass Woodard starting the fourth quarter, but as the clock ticked down the reserves were off the bench and ready to enter the game.
“I was going to let her get the record,” Bluder said.
With 4:16 left, Clark let a 3-pointer fly from the wing — for a swish and the record. She was subbed out 30 seconds later.
The previous biggest crowd for a Gophers game this season was on Nov. 19 against Connecticut with star Paige Bueckers, a native of Minnesota, that drew 10,869 fans. That’s the only other home attendance figure for the Gophers in 2023-24 greater than 6,000.
UP NEXT
Iowa: Hosts No. 2 Ohio State on Sunday. The Hawkeyes are tied with Indiana for second place and would win the tiebreaker over the Hoosiers for the No. 2 seed in the Big Ten tournament next week if they beat the Buckeyes. Indiana wraps up the regular season against Maryland on Sunday.
Minnesota: Plays at Penn State on Sunday.
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Iowa
Illini rip Big Ten rival Iowa to reach Final Four for first time in 21 years
HOUSTON — Freshman Keaton Wagler scored 25 points and Illinois ended Iowa’s underdog March Madness run by dominating in the frontcourt, beating the Hawkeyes 71-59 on Saturday to advance to the Final Four for the first time since 2005.
This will be the sixth trip to the Final Four for Illinois, which has never won a national title. The Fighting Illini will face either Duke or UConn next weekend in Indianapolis.
The much taller Illini (28-8) outrebounded Iowa 38-21 in the South Region final. David Mirkovic led the way with 12 rebounds.
Coach Brad Underwood’s emphasis on recruiting in Eastern Europe has paid off in this tournament. Tomislav Ivisic of Croatia, who stands 7-foot-1, and his 7-2 twin brother Zvonimir have shined in March.
Andrej Stojakovic, who was born in Greece but whose father is Serbian three-time NBA All-Star Peja Stojakovic, scored 17 points for third-seeded Illinois.
His famous father watched proudly as his son punched his ticket to the Final Four, and Wagler’s parents — who met when they played basketball at a junior college in Kansas — cheered wildly throughout for their son, who was named MVP of the region.
Bennett Stirtz scored 24 points for the ninth-seeded Hawkeyes (24-13), who knocked off top-seeded Florida in the second round as part of an impressive run under first-year coach Ben McCollum, a four-time Division II national champion at Northwest Missouri State.
Iowa
Rick Barnes reacts to Tennessee’s win over Iowa State
No. 6 seed Tennessee (25-11) defeated No. 2 seed Iowa State (29-8), 76-62, on Friday in the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 at United Center in Chicago, Illinois.
The Vols advanced to their third consecutive Elite Eight under 11th-year head coach Rick Barnes.
“One, very humbled by it,” Barnes said. “Certainly proud of our basketball team. They worked really hard. Defensively, I thought we knew we would have to have a great effort defensively. Certainly Iowa State, outstanding. T.J. (Otzelberger), outstanding program, coach.
“This time of year is always tough when you lose a key guy like they did, and that’s part of the tournament. That’s the tough part about it, but just really proud of our guys and the effort they made and against a team that they play as hard as any team we played all year. The start of the game, I don’t think we’ve seen anything like that all year, and we were able to withstand it. Again, just really proud of the effort from our entire team. Everybody had a hand in us winning this game.”
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Iowa
Tennessee basketball vs Iowa State Sweet 16 tipoff time changed for later start
CHICAGO − Tennessee basketball’s Men’s NCAA Tournament game against Iowa State will start a little later than planned.
The Sweet 16 game between the No. 6 Vols (24-11) and No. 2 Cyclones (29-7) will now tipoff at 10:25 p.m. ET at the United Center on TBS.
The game was originally scheduled for 10:10 p.m. before the 15-minute delay. There is also the standard 30-minute break in between tournament games. Tennessee and Iowa State won’t begin until 30 minutes after the end of No. 1 Michigan (33-3) and No. 4 Alabama (29-5).
Iowa State forward Joshua Jefferson status
Iowa State’s star forward Joshua Jefferson is questionable against Tennessee basketball according to the NCAA player availability report released at 6:32 p.m.
Jefferson sprained his ankle in the opening minutes of Iowa State’s first-round game against Tennessee State. He sat for the remainder of the game and missed the Cyclones’ win over Kentucky on March 22. Iowa State didn’t need the All-Big 12 forward as it generated 20 Wildcat turnovers in its 19-point victory.
Wynton Jackson covers high school sports for Knox News. Email: wynton.jackson@knoxnews.com
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