Iowa retires Caitlin Clark's No. 22 jersey after win vs. USC - ESPN
IOWA CITY, Iowa — Caitlin Clark supplied the star power. The Iowa Hawkeyes supplied the perfect ending to the day.
Iowa got its biggest victory of the season, 76-69 over No. 4 USC, on a Sunday afternoon when the school honored Clark by raising her No. 22 jersey to the rafters at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
Rather than launching logo 3-pointers and throwing pinpoint passes as she did in her All-American career from 2020 to 2024, Clark got to be a cheerleader for a program and sport she has elevated.
Clark said she felt more nerves being back in the building where she made so much history than she did for all the huge games she played here.
That's because Clark had time to think about the magnitude of it all: becoming the leading scorer in NCAA Division I history (3,951 points), reaching two national championship games, winning three Big Ten tournaments and making an enormous impact that has continued in the WNBA, where she won Rookie of the Year with the Indiana Fever.
«You kind of just have those butterflies in your stomach when you walk in here,» Clark said while meeting with the media before Sunday's game. «Not so much for a basketball game now, but obviously just to be around everybody and to enjoy this environment.
»Definitely, you are a little bit more vulnerable. I don't have to go and compete for 40 minutes, even though I wish maybe I could. Just very grateful and fortunate… feel very lucky that a lot of my former teammates and former coaches are here and able to support me, and a lot of friends and family."
Iowa lost Clark and a big senior class that included another WNBA-drafted player, Kate Martin, from last season's 34-5 team that fell to South Carolina in the NCAA final. So it has been a season of growing pains for