Caitlin Clark propelled Iowa to its second-straight Final Four on Monday behind yet another generational Elite Eight performance.
The rematch between last year’s national championship matchup lived up to the hype, with Iowa getting the better of LSU this time, 94-87. In the win, Clark had 41 points – including nine 3-pointers – 12 assists and seven rebounds en route to being named the Most Outstanding Player of the Albany regional.
But if you ask Clark, revenge wasn’t on Iowa’s mind.
"It's not about last year,” she said postgame. “You worry too much about the past, you're going to get caught up in that. It's about being present, being where your feet are."
The two teams were tied at the half with 45 points apiece, but Clark hit four of her nine three pointers in the third quarter to help give Iowa an 11 point lead headed into the fourth that they never gave up. Now, Iowa will go to back-to-back Final Fours for the first time ever, even after they lost key players from last year’s tournament run.
“Everybody at the beginning of the year kept saying, 'Oh, Iowa lost so much. They lost all this offense and two starters,'" coach Lisa Bluder said. "Everybody kept focusing on that. And we kept focusing on what we had."
To put her performance in perspective, Clark broke a number of records – adding on to what has been a record-breaking season. The D-I career 3-point record is now also Clark's, as she passed Oklahoma's Taylor Robertson and now has 540 treys. Her nine threes versus LSU were the most in a game in NCAA tournament history, and she passed Diana Taurasi for the most career 3-pt FG in NCAA tournament history.
Also on Monday, Clark surpassed Francis Marion’s Pearl Moore in scoring, now with 3,900 career points and counting. She also broke the record for most points in a season, now with 1,183.
Clark is also the first player in NCAA tournament history with three career 40-point games. Postgame, the Iowa star shared a moment with both Angel Reese and LSU coach Kim Mulkey.
“What did I say to her? I said, ‘I sure am glad you’re leaving,’” Mulkey said. “I said, ‘Girl, you something else.’ Never seen anything like it.”
She also said there wasn’t much that her team – or anybody else, for that matter – could do to contain Clark.
“There's not a lot of strategy. You've got to guard her. Nobody else seems to be able to guard her,” Mulkey said. “We didn't even guard her last year when we beat them. She's just a generational player, and she just makes everybody around her better. That's what the great ones do.”
Reese, meanwhile, said that she told Clark to “go win it.”
“[Clark] just told me, ‘Continue to be a great player,’” Reese said. “And I told her to continue to be a great player, as well, and keep elevating the game and go win it.”
