The No. 4 Iowa Hawkeyes (24-4) are firmly back in the winning column after beating the Illinois Illini (13-13) 101-85 in a Big 10 matchup back home at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City on Sunday.
Lisa Bluder’s squad played team basketball and had four players score double digits. They drained 17 3-point shots, their second highest output from behind the arc of the season.
Clark was the leading scorer with her fifth triple-double of the season and 16th of her career. She finished with 24 points, 15 rebounds and 10 assists.
For the Illini, Makira Cook had 26 points.
Ahead of the Illinois matchup, Iowa revealed a No. 22 decal on the court to mark the point beyond the arc where Caitlin Clark broke the record for most career points in women’s basketball history.
Iowa had lost two of their last three heading into the matchup. The win in between the losses was over Michigan where the star senior broke the record.
The Hawkeyes have two more games in the regular season, away at Minnesota and then hosting Ohio State. That means Clark has two more chances to pass “Pistol Pete” Maravich to become the college basketball all-time leading scorer.
USA TODAY Sports provided updates, highlights and more from Iowa’s win over Illinois below:
Caitlin Clark inches closer to NCAA scoring record in Iowa win
This was not the dominant shooting day for Caitlin Clark — it was the dominant all-around day.
Clark recorded a 24-point, 15-rebound, 10-assist triple double as the No. 4 Iowa Hawkeyes routed Illinois Sunday, 101-85. This marked Clark’s fifth triple-double of the season and the 16th of her career.
Clark is now 50 points shy of matching former LSU guard Pete Maravich’s all-time NCAA men’s and women’s scoring record of 3,667 points.
Clark shot 6-of-18 from the field and 5-of-14 from beyond the arc, but she was instrumental in pushing the pace of play all game long. Clark often led fast break opportunities that never allowed Illinois to settle into their halfcourt defense.
The Illini never posed a real threat, as Iowa led the game wire-to-wire. Illinois, in particular, struggled from 3-point range, making just 8-of-23 attempts, while the Hawkeyes more than doubled the Illini output with 17 made threes on 45.9% shooting from deep.
Iowa’s ball movement destabilized Illinois on defense all game, as the Hawkeyes assisted on 28 of their 36 field goals.
Iowa improved to 24-4, while Illinois fell to 13-13.
