Oh Yeah, Iowa Does Have Quite A Team Outside Of Caitlin Clark

Just in case you were wondering, or missed it amid all the Caitlin Clark craze, Iowa does have an excellent women's basketball team - outside of Clark.

The No. 3 Hawkeyes showed that again Saturday in a complete, 95-68 victory over No. 3 seed Michigan in the Big Ten Tournament semifinals at the Target Center in Minneapolis. No. 2 seed Iowa (28-4) will play No. 5 seed Nebraska (22-10) at noon Sunday on CBS in the tournament title game.

Caitlin Clark's 15 assists Saturday helped Iowa set the Big Ten Tournament assists record for a game with 30. (Getty Images).

Clark scored 28 points - just four below her average that leads the nation - and rolled out 15 assists as the fourth-year senior's college career has only this tournament and the NCAA Tournament left. She announced she would enter the April 15 WNBA Draft last week.

Clark leads the nation in assists as well, with 8.6 a game. She hit 10-of-19 from the field with 4-of-11 shooting from 3-point range along with 2 steals. But she played only 31 of the 40-minute game as Michigan (20-13) never seriously threatened.

Iowa Is No One-Woman Team

Three other players scored in double figures for Iowa. Forward Hannah Stuelke scored 16 on 7-of-7 shooting from the field in only 17 minutes as she suffered an ankle injury. It was Stuelke who scored 47 points on Feb. 8 in a 111-93 win over Penn State on 17-of-20 shooting and nine rebounds. Clark scored only 27 that night with 15 assists.

A teammate of Pete Maravich, by the way, never came close to scoring 47 while Maravich was setting the NCAA scoring record of 3,667 points that Clark broke last Sunday.

Stuelke said after the game she expects to play Sunday against Nebraska.

"I'll be good," she said.

Guard Kate Martin scored 13 with six rebounds for the Hawkeyes, and guard Sydney Affolter added 12 on 5-of-6 shooting with eight assists. 

Iowa broke the Big Ten Tournament record for assists with 30, breaking the mark of 29 by Maryland in 2021.

Caitlin Clark sat out nine minutes of Iowa's win over Michigan Saturday in the Big Ten Tournament in Minneapolis. (Getty Images).

"There was some beautiful passing in the fourth quarter," Iowa coach Lisa Bluder said on the Big Ten Network after the game. "We just share the ball so well. It's not about getting ours individually. It's about getting ours as a team. It's amazing the culture we have. They have each other's back."

Clark spent nearly 10 minutes on the bench cheering on her teammates.

Caitlin Clark ‘Amazing, Hard To Guard’

Iowa as a team leads the nation in scoring (92.7 points a game), in assists (21.5 a game), in 3-pointers (11.3 a game) and is second in field goal percentage (.502) and sixth in scoring margin (+21.3). The Hawkeyes hit their average of threes with 11 - most of which were off Clark assists.

"She's amazing." Bluder said. "She's hard to guard. She's so good in transition."

Soon, the inevitable will happen. Iowa will have to transition away from Clark.