Caitlin Clark has taken the college basketball world by storm. The Iowa basketball superstar is on the cusp of breaking the NCAA all-time women’s scoring record.
Clark finished Sunday’s loss to Nebraska with 31 points. Entering Thursday’s game against Michigan, Clark is seven points shy of tying the record and eight points to become the sole owner of the new scoring title. Iowa coach Lisa Bluder initially intended to call a time-out in order to allow Clark, the team and the fans to savor the moment.
But the standout point guard is not interested in the game stopping briefly: “I hope they don’t stop the game,” Clark told reporters on Wednesday. “We can’t be wasting time-outs on that, come on now.”
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Bluder later said she would talk to Clark about the best way to handle the special moment, but she also acknowledged that “if she doesn’t want it, I don’t think I want to do it.”
If there is a natural stoppage in play shortly after Clark sets the record, that break in the action could be used to celebrate the achievement.
Las Vegas Aces star Kelsey Plum is the current NCAA Women’s Division I scoring record holder.
Through 25 games, Clark is averaging a career-high 32.1 points per contest. The Hawkeyes, last season’s national championship runners-up, have won 20 of those 22 games.
Clark and fourth-ranked Iowa have become a must-see attraction for fans all across the U.S. Almost every basketball arena the Hawkeyes have traveled to this season has been sold out. Fans who have not been able to secure tickets prior to a sellout have had to resort to the secondary market, where tickets sometimes cost thousands.
According to ticket marketplace Vivid Seats, the five most in-demand NCAA women’s games this year have featured Iowa. The average price of tickets for the Hawkeyes since Clark joined the team in 2020 is up 224%, and the average distance traveled by a fan to watch Iowa play is up 34% from last season.
Fans who want to be able to say they were in the arena on Thursday to watch Clark try to clinch the scoring record will likely have to pay an unprecedented premium.
Even the person responsible for the spectacle was having trouble accommodating everyone who asked for tickets.
“I’ve had to tell a lot of people no,” said Clark, who was still able to take care of a large group of family and friends for Thursday night’s game at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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