Thursday Will Be ‘First Time Ever’ Day For Iowa Men & Women’s Hoops

What's going to happen on Thursday night has never occurred for both the Iowa women's and men's basketball teams on a single night. It will be a historic night and one that's full of opportunity.

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The Iowa women's basketball team upped their record to 19-4 on Sunday, with a 95-51 win at Penn State. Caitlin Clark led the way for Iowa with the 9th triple-double of her career. That's the second-highest total in NCAA women's basketball history. Clark scored 23 points, dished out 14 assists, and pulled down 10 rebounds as Iowa won their 8th straight game.

After the game, the Iowa women left a note on the board in the locker room for Coach Bluder.

As you can see below, they were happy with her answer.

The Iowa women moved up to #5 in the new Associated Press poll released today. Thursday evening, they'll be in Bloomington, Indiana to take on the Hoosiers. Indiana moved up two spots in the new poll and is now ranked #2 in the nation.

The Iowa men also had a victorious weekend with an 81-79 win over Illinois. Tony Perkins led the way with 32 points in 34 minutes. He deserved the congratulatory hugs he got after the game.

After a rather tense week between the Iowa Athletics Department and the Illinois Orange Krush student section, which posed as a charity to buy tickets to the game, the Boys and Girls Club of Cedar Rapids ended up the winner. All these kids being announced Saturday resulted in one of the absolute loudest moments all day inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

After the game, Iowa's Payton Sandfort had a little fun in the Hawkeye locker room.

Up next for Iowa is a Thursday night game at #1 Purdue. The 22-2 Boilermakers are still ranked at the top in the new Associated Press Poll, despite losing at Indiana over the weekend. Iowa has won three in a row and is 15-8.

Now for the historical impact of Thursday. The University of Iowa Sports Information Department tells me they don't believe the Iowa men and women have BOTH played a top 5 team on the same day. They've come close. On March 13, 2021, the men played #3 Illinois and the women played #7 Maryland.

As I said in the beginning, it's historic and opportunity-filled. The Iowa women's game begins at 5:30 p.m. Thursday on Big Ten Network. The Iowa men start at 6 p.m. on ESPN2. I hope you have picture in picture.