- Iowa Hawkeyes superstar Caitlin Clark has been torching opponents throughout the 2023 season.
- The Player of the Year frontrunner recorded her 10th career triple-double in the Big Ten Tournament championship game.
Caitlin Clark is the greatest act in all of basketball.
And she put on quite a show under the bright lights of her latest stage — the Big Ten Tournament championship game.
The junior superstar recorded the 10th triple-double of her illustrious college basketball career to lead her then-No. 7 Iowa Hawkeyes to a 105-72 rout of the No. 14 Ohio State Buckeyes, clinching the program's second conference title in as many years. Clark scored a game-high 30 points at a 52.9% clip from the field and 5-of-11 shooting from beyond the arc, adding 10 rebounds and a season-high 17 assists to round out the historic tour de force.
—SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) March 6, 2023
The accomplishment was unprecedented in the modern era of the NCAA; no other Division-I player — man or woman — has finished a game with at least 30 points and 15 assists in the last 20 years. Nor has any other player — again, man or woman — recorded a 25-point, 10-rebound, and 15-assist stat line in that same span.
Except for Clark, that is. She recorded 28 points, 10 rebounds, and 15 assists on the road against Ohio State — then ranked second in the nation — back in January of this year.
"It is a special accomplishment," Clark said after the game. "But I truly mean it doesn't happen without every single person in the locker room. So, I'm thankful for them."
Next up for Clark and her Hawkeyes, now ranked No. 2 in the latest AP Poll, thanks to their impressive showing in the Big Ten Tournament, is the Big Dance. Last season, Iowa bowed out earlier than expected, in a second-round upset at the hands of the Creighton Bluejays.
But this year, the National Player of the Year frontrunner and her impressive supporting cast have their eyes set on a deep run, and perhaps a No. 1 seed on Selection Sunday to kick it all off .
"I think this does earn us a 1 seed," Clark said."We beat two 1-seeds in the past two weeks. I don't know how that wouldn't earn you a 1 seed, but I'm not the one that makes those decisions."