MINNEAPOLIS — More than an hour before the Big Ten tournament title game tipped off Sunday, Caitlin Clark was the only player on the Target Center court. She took jump shot after jump shot on the end of the arena that features the four championship banners raised by the Minnesota Lynx, the WNBA team she grew up rooting for.
Fourteen teams spent the past week vying for the conference title, but this event felt like one last celebration of Clark for Big Ten fans who watched her grow into a phenomenon over the past four years. The tournament sold out for the first time, and downtown was swarmed by fans — most of them wearing black and gold.
Fittingly, Clark lifted Iowa to its third consecutive title in fantastic fashion during a 94-89 overtime victory over Nebraska. The now three-time Big Ten tournament most outstanding player finished with 34 points, 12 assists and seven rebounds. Clark scored or assisted on Iowa’s last 12 points of regulation to erase a late deficit and then scored six straight in overtime to give the second-seeded Hawkeyes a lead they never relinquished. The presumptive No. 1 pick of the WNBA draft poured in 30 points after halftime, when Iowa trailed fifth-seeded Nebraska 46-35.
“If this is my last time playing in a Big Ten game … then what better way to end it all?” Clark said. “You have the overtime, we fight back, bad shooting, good shooting, defensive stops. I mean, it just really had it all on the biggest stage. Can’t be happier for our group. This was the only way we could end it.”
After a Nebraska shot went awry and the buzzer sounded to end regulation, Clark looked into the crowd and shouted, “Five f---ing minutes!” As overtime ended, she sprinted the length of the court before chucking the ball into the stands. Moments later, confetti fell from the rafters and she was handed another trophy.
Clark’s fans and their signs were everywhere in the building — and they were men, women and children. One girl said she was willing to trade a sibling for Clark’s autograph. Another fan compared her to Michael Jordan, calling her the greatest of all time. One claimed to have traveled about 24 hours to see the all-time scoring leader. At this tournament, Iowa fans dominated attendance for games that didn’t even feature the Hawkeyes. But for their games, cheers of “I-O-W-A!” echoed throughout the building, and even the upper deck was packed.
During her time here this weekend, Clark became the Big Ten tournament’s all-time scoring leader and the first NCAA Division I women’s player to score 1,000 points in multiple seasons. She sits at 1,054 for 2023-24 and is closing in on Kelsey Plum’s single-season record of 1,109, set in 2016-17 for Washington.
All eyes were on Clark, but Nebraska was unbothered by the hype during its first trip to the tournament final since it beat Iowa in 2014. The Cornhuskers upset visiting Iowa on Feb. 11 despite Clark scoring 31 points. And Sunday’s start was a slow one for Clark, who was 0 for 9 from behind the arc in the first half.
“In the first half, it wasn’t always the most fun,” she said. “It was kind of frustrating at times. I think that was kind of our problem. We weren’t really smiling and having fun. The second half, we flipped what we were doing … and had a lot more fun. Things started going our way. We were just a lot more patient. If we want to reach our goals in March, we are going to find ways to win that aren’t always pretty. … Our team is very prepared for it.”
Added Iowa Coach Lisa Bluder: “You can maybe keep Caitlin down for a half. You’re not keeping her down the whole game. There’s no way.”
Nebraska sprinted to a 16-5 lead and held off a couple of Iowa runs to lead by 11 at halftime. The Cornhuskers were 7 for 16 from behind the arc to pick up where they left off in Saturday’s semifinal win over Maryland. The Hawkeyes were 4 for 16.
But Iowa found its footing in the third quarter, outscoring Nebraska 23-12 as Clark warmed up. Her first three-pointer was of the step-back variety, and then her cutting layup gave Iowa a 53-52 lead, its first since 5-4. Two Clark free throws sent the game to the fourth quarter with the score tied at 58.
Clark shined down the stretch as an eight-point deficit disappeared, but Iowa delivered defensively, too. In overtime, Clark had a steal after hitting a step-back three to put her team up 89-87. Gabbie Marshall blocked a three-pointer and had a deflection in the final moments. The game ended with Clark’s third steal.
“This is heart-wrenching and just a super disappointing loss,” Nebraska Coach Amy Williams said. “... Our kids came here expecting to win.”
“We had the entire stadium against us, and we were able to silence the crowd,” the Cornhuskers’ Jaz Shelley said. “... We just fell a little short, but I think we played a great game.”
Iowa’s Hannah Stuelke held down the fort while Clark struggled; she finished with 25 points and nine rebounds. Kate Martin added 13 points, and Sydney Affolter had 11 points and 11 rebounds.
Alexis Markowski led Nebraska with 23 points and 13 rebounds. Natalie Potts posted 21 points and nine rebounds, and Shelley finished with 16 points.
The Hawkeyes are in line to be a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament a year after losing to LSU in the championship game. Big Ten fans got to say goodbye to Clark this weekend. The rest of the nation can begin to do the same when the NCAA tournament begins in two weeks.
“It never gets old cutting any net,” Clark said. “I feel like we’re pretty good at that now. Hopefully we get to do it a few more times here coming up in late March.
“To me, this isn’t a farewell tour. This is just Iowa basketball having fun and playing the game. I don’t want it to be all about me. I just want it to be us.”