Iowa’s Caitlin Clark Reaches Unprecedented Mark in Big Ten History

Two years ago, you could easily refer to Caitlin Clark as a phenom, but no longer. It might be a little premature to call her a legend but what she does game in and game out no longer surprises anyone. Last night in Iowa's win against Wisconsin, Clark reached a level that no Big Ten women's player ever has before.

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Clark scored 24 points in the Hawkeyes' 91-61 victory over the Badgers. That gives her a total of 2,370 points in 88 collegiate games. That's good for #10 all-time in Big Ten career scoring, according to the University of Iowa Sports Information Department. Former Hawkeye Megan Gustafson is #5 on that list, with 2804 points. Sports Illustrated reports former Ohio State Buckeye Kelsey Mitchell sits on top at 3,402 points.

What's especially amazing about Clark reaching the Top 10 in Big Ten scoring history in 88 games is that every other player ahead of her played in at least 31 more games to reach their final spot on the list. Clark's 26.93 points-per-game (PPG) average is 2 1/2 points per game better than Mitchell, and at least 8 points per game better than all the others in the Top 10.

Iowa has at least five more games to play this season and if Clark were to play in a minimum of 29 next season, and continue with a 26.93 PPG average, she would finish second all-time in Big Ten women's scoring at about 3,285. Clark would be just over 100 points behind Mitchell. I know I'm getting ahead of myself, but...

In the victory over Wisconsin, Clark also had eight assists. That gives her 687 for her career, also good for the #10 spot on the Big Ten Career Assists leaderboard. Former Iowa guards Kathleen Doyle (#8 with 706) and Samantha Logic (#2 with 898) are among the nine players ahead of her. At the top is former Ohio State Buckeye Samantha Prahalis, with 901.

Similar to the scoring list, everyone ahead of Clark played at least 28 more games to reach their career assist total. Clark's assists per game average (7.8) is better than anyone ahead of her. Now back to her possible remaining games.

If Clark plays in a minimum of 34 games the rest of this season, and next, and continues to average 7.8 assists per game, she'll obliterate the all-time Big Ten assists record. Calculating those numbers, Clark would end at about 952, just over 50 ahead of Prahalis.

Caitlin Clark is the only active player in the Top 10 of either career scoring or assists in Big Ten History. She might not be a legend just yet, but Clark's well on her way... And we learned this morning the nation will get another chance to see her and the Iowa program.

The University of Iowa announced today that ESPN College GameDay will be live at Carver-Hawkeye Arena for the first time in history on Sunday, February 26. It will be on the air from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m., ahead of the Iowa regular-season finale against #2 Indiana. In addition to the 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. broadcast, host Elle Duncan will also do live reports from Carver-Hawkeye during the 9 a.m. SportsCenter.

Gates will open for fans with tickets for the February 26 game at 9 a.m. that morning. Fans are asked to sit in sections AA-B first and fill in surrounding sections next. Fans will be allowed to leave the arena after GameDay and re-enter with the same ticket closer to the 1 p.m. tip-off. The Senior Day game, which is a sellout, will be televised by ESPN.