Caitlin Clark and Iowa women’s basketball wiped the floor with DePaul during a one-in-a-lifetime scrimmage at Kinnick Stadium on Sunday. More than 55,000 Hawkeyes fans packed into the stadium, which is considered one of the most-intimidating environments in college football, to watch the reigning national runners-up play a preseason basketball scrimmage.
The scenes were absolutely remarkable and images from the afternoon were special. To make it even cooler, it broke the record for highest-attended women’s basketball game in history.
Everything about the event made for a really cool exhibition event. Even though the chilly temperatures required the players to blow on their hands before free throws — the football team’s heated benches helped to alleviate some of the cold.
Although Iowa returns a good chunk of its team from a year ago, Caitlin Clark is the star. She averaged 27.8 points, 7.1 rebounds and 8.6 points per game in 2022-23. She will continue to be one of the nation’s top scorers, if not the top scorer this season.
Clark is a superstar, and an idol for so many young girls everywhere.
The senior guard picked up right where she left off against the Blue Demons. Clark dropped a triple-double against DePaul with 34 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists.
Iowa’s associate director of photography, Stephen Mally, took a magnificent photo of Clark bringing the ball up at Kinnick. It really captured the gravity and intensity of the crossover event.
Iconic is a good word to describe the image.
In her dominance, Clark made Hawkeyes offensive coordinator Brian Ferentz look awfully silly. She scored more points at Kinnick than Iowa football in 17 of its last 20 home games dating back to 2020.
The only three games in which the football team scored 34 points or more were:
- Nov. 7, 2020 — Iowa 49 – Michigan State 7
- Sept. 4, 2021 — Iowa 34 – Indiana 6
- Sept. 16, 2023 — Iowa 41 – Western Michigan 10
Clark out-scored Brian Ferentz’s offense in far more than 17 games over the last three years. That number only includes games at Kinnick, where Hawkeyes football and now Clark have both played!
Maybe Ferentz should put Clark in the backfield against Minnesota this weekend?!