Ally Tipoff: Iowa vs. Virginia Tech
Caitlin Clark and the Hawkeyes roll into 2023-24, continuing to make history
Women’s college basketball is having quite a moment these days.
And the Hawkeyes continue to be at the center of it all, led by superstar guard Caitlin Clark.
Winner of multiple national player of the year awards last season, the Des Moines native put together one of the greatest performances in NCAA Tournament history as Iowa stormed to the program’s first Final Four in 30 years and its first-ever appearance in the national title game.
Despite losing 102-85 to LSU, Clark scored a game-high 30 points and dished out eight assists. Her eight 3-pointers broke the record for most 3s made in an NCAA women’s championship game.
Iowa-LSU — and the battle between Clark and LSU star Angel Reese (who won the Final Four’s Most Outstanding Player award) — became the most watched title game in women’s tournament history.
On the way to the title game, Clark scored 41 points in both the Hawkeyes’ Elite Eight win over Louisville and their semifinal upset of defending champion South Carolina. Against Louisville, Clark’s 41 points, 12 assists and 10 rebounds made her the only player in NCAA Tournament history (men’s or women’s) to record a 30+ point triple-double.
Clark’s 191 total points set a new record for a player in a single NCAA Tournament — men's or women's. Clark also set new NCAAW Tournament records for most assists (60) and most 3-pointers made (32).
Last month, Clark and the Hawkeyes continued their history-making ways, drawing 55,646 to Kinnick Stadium, home of Hawkeye football, to watch Iowa beat DePaul 94-72 in an exhibition game. The first-ever “Crossover at Kinnick” was the most-attended single game in women’s basketball history. After scoring the first-ever basket at Kinnick, Clark rolled to another triple-double — 34 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists.
On Nov 10, four days into the new season, the Hawkeyes (ranked third in the first Associated Press poll) outlasted fellow Final Four participant and eighth-ranked Virginia Tech 80-76 in a high-energy, back-and-forth affair played in front of an electric crowd of 15,196 at Charlotte’s Spectrum Center. Organized and mounted by the Charlotte Sports Foundation — with sponsorship from Ally Financial — the inaugural Ally Tipoff set an attendance record for a regular season women’s college basketball game in the state of North Carolina…and the two teams playing are not from the Carolinas.
Virginia Tech is less than a three-hour drive from Charlotte; Iowa is located about 1,000 miles away. So the Hokies had more fans in the crowd; though, true to tradition, the Hawkeye contigent made its presence felt and the crowd was dotted with many Iowa 22 Clark shirts, worn by kids and adults alike.
As if we needed more evidence that Caitlin Clark is a national phenomenom.
The calendar read November, but it felt like March. Clark led all scorers with 44 points (two shy of her career high) while tallying eight rebounds and six assists. It was the ninth time she has scored 40 or more points in her college career. Hokies’ point guard Georgia Amoore reminded everyone why she was one of the biggest reasons the Hokies reached their first Final Four — matching Clark all game with 31 points, 21 of which came from beyond the arc. Amoore set the crowd ablaze, hitting a 3 just shy of halfcourt to beat the first quarter buzzer.
Still, this was only the second game for both teams and it showed at times — particularly in the first half, which was plagued by inconsistent shooting. Clark herself started slow. But true to form, she got better and more ruthless as the game went on, scoring 16 points in the fourth quarter. Clark, the nation’s best 3-point shooter last season (with an average of 3.7 3s made), only hit five shots (in 16 attempts) from beyond the arc. It’s a credit to her diverse skill set that she found different ways to score and facilitate.
Indeed, Clark played all 40 minutes and scored 55 percent of her team’s points — and the Hawkeyes needed every one of these points to hold off the Hokies. Clark frequently displayed her signature transition playmaking — grabbing a defensive rebound (or taking a quick outlet pass from a teammate), zooming down the court — head up, eyes scanning — and either firing a pass to a teammate positioned under the rim or taking it to the rim herself. Although she drew 16 fouls — many of which came on drives through the lane — Clark was also knocked to the ground a quite a bit.
Which begs the question — one of the prevailing questions facing this Hawkeyes squad. Can they get significant and consistent scoring and facilitating from sources other than Clark? Last season, Clark’s team-leading average of 27.8 points per game was second in the nation. But Iowa also got 17.1 ppg from center Monika Czinano and 10.9 from McKenna Warnock, both of whom graduated.
Against Virginia Tech, Iowa’s only other double-figure scorers were sophomore forward Hannah Stuelke with 12 points and Kate Martin (a fifth-year graduate student) with 10.
Martin has long been the team’s unsung heroine in terms of energy and leadership, doing whatever the Hawkeyes need her to do. The 6’0 guard reminded fans of her mettle with a couple of fearless baseline drives to the basket against Tech’s imposing frontcourt. Stuelke shot six of eight from the field, worked beautifully with Clark in transition and played great defense on Tech’s 6’6 All-American center Elizabeth Kitley. Sure, Kitley ended up with a double-double (16 points, 16 boards) but the Hawkeyes definitely contained for large stretches.
Sydney Affolter led the Hawkeyes with 14 rebounds, including four on the offensive glass and while Sharon Goodman’s stats were far from eye-popping, she had a couple of crucial baskets down the stretch and was a big part of defending Kitley.
Last season, the closest to come to Clark’s team and nation-leading 8.6 assists per game was Martin with 3.6. Against Tech, Clark had all but four of the Hawkeyes 11 total assists, with senior Molly Davis notching two.
The game also featured quite the chess match between coaches Lisa Bluder of Iowa and the Hokies’ Kenny Brooks. Tech ably disrupted Iowa’s half-court offense in the first half by often deploying two defenders to quickly trap Clark as she brought the ball past the half court line. Bluder countered by drawing up some off-ball plays for Clark, which got Iowa’s offense scoring again. Also, in crucial stretches, the Hawkeyes were able to quickly pinpoint personnel mismatches on the floor and exploit them for points.
Amoore’s three-pointers off of quick handoffs and pin downs gave Iowa fits in the earlygoing. But the Hawkeyes made the necessary defensive adjustments to minimize the damage in the second half. Still, there Amoore was draining 3s and pretty much doing everything she can to give her team a chance, powering through the game’s final minute with what looked like a cramp in her calf.
While talking with the media after the game, Brooks praised the experience in Charlotte. “We went to the Final Four last year, and this atmosphere rivals it,” Brooks told reporters. “It even got a little bit louder. It was electric… It was unbelievable, from the way we walked into Charlotte and we saw our faces on billboards. It was big-time.”
While neutral-site, early-season clashes between highly-ranked opponents are quite common in men’s college hoops, they are a relative novelty on the women’s side. Charlotte and the 2023 Ally Tipoff showed why that should no longer be the case.
Who’s got next?