The last time Caitlin Clark played in Evanston, things were a lot different.
There was no hype around the NCAA scoring record being broken or extravaganza attached to her arrival in town. There were just 1,578 fans in attendance as Clark and teammate Monika Czinano both dropped double-doubles to lead the Hawkeyes to their first win over the Wildcats — 72-67 in overtime — in three seasons.
Since then, Clark has become the face of women’s basketball, in turn making Iowa women’s basketball the hottest ticket in any town they take the court. Wednesday night, the circus that has become Clark and Co. will be on full display in front of the first sellout crowd in Northwestern women’s basketball history as the Hawkeyes look to claim their fourth straight win against the Wildcats.
The question that every opponent is clamoring to answer ahead of their meeting with the sweeping 2023 player of the year: How do you guard her?
“I’m not playing,” Northwestern coach Joe McKeown joked.
Humor aside, the only real way to defend against Clark, McKeown acknowledged, is to accept that she’s going to score on you. From there, the goal is to make her as uncomfortable as possible and force her into a heavy turnover night.
In her senior season, Clark is averaging 32 points, 7.6 assists and 7.1 rebounds for the Hawkeyes. The last time she was held to under 20 points was last February when she finished with 18 points in a loss to Maryland.
In four seasons, McKeown’s teams have limited Clark to an average of 21 points — including a career-low eight points her freshman year — in their six meetings, winning three of them. What’s been missing in the Wildcats' three straight losses to the Hawkeyes is the most decorated defensive player to come through the program — point guard Veronica Burton.
“We always had to know where she was on the floor,” Burton said about her matchups against Clark. “We played a blizzard defense, so it wasn’t going to be one person defending her.”
“From a scouting report standpoint, when she would go left, we knew that she loved her stepback three. When she went right, we knew she wanted to get to the basket.”
Clark still loves to take that step-back three going left and drive to the rim from her right. The only difference is she’s more efficient. She’s shooting 40.7% from three, with a true shooting percentage of 63.9%.
She doesn’t make it easier on opponents when she’s starting her own fastbreak, either. Clark’s averaging about seven defensive rebounds per game.
Clark has the Hawkeyes in pursuit of another NCAA Championship appearance this season, while Northwestern has fallen from Big Ten champions into a rebuilding era over the last four seasons. McKeown has six underclassmen on his roster, with freshman guard Casey Harter and sophomore guard Caroline Lau both leading the Wildcats in minutes in the backcourt. Meanwhile, the Hawkeye's biggest threat, aside from Clark, is their experience.
Double-teaming Clark is not enough with Kate Martin and Gabbie Marshall, who can punish teams from outside, and Hannah Stuelke averaging 12.6 points per game for the Hawkeyes in the post.
McKeown acknowledged Wednesday’s game is not business as usual for the program from a logistical standpoint. He said the athletic department is prepared for the sellout crowd — specifically, any court storming following the incident in Columbus when an Ohio State fan ran into Clark on her way to the locker room.
Coming into Wednesday night’s game against Northwestern, Clark is 138 points behind Kelsey Plum’s NCAA scoring record with 3,389 career points.
She won’t break Plum’s record in Evanston, but unless the Wildcats can pull off the improbable and hold her to another career-low night, she’s all but guaranteed to pass No. 3 Jackie Stiles (3,393) and No. 2 Kelsey Mitchell (3,402).