UConn’s Geno Auriemma: Iowa’s Caitlin Clark is ‘Pete Maravich with the 3-Point Line’ | News, Scores, Highlights, Stats, and Rumors
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Ben Solomon/NCAA Photos via Getty Images
Caitlin Clark may have fallen short of winning a national championship, but her historic season and run through the NCAA tournament won’t be forgotten anytime soon.
Back-to-back 41-point games in the Elite Eight and national semifinal, including a triple-double in the former against Louisville, immortalized Clark and put her in the pantheon of March greats as she led Iowa to its first national title game appearance.
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What a tournament run for Caitlin Clark ?<br><br>▫️Most points in an NCAA tournament (193)<br>▫️Most assists in a women’s NCAA tournament (60)<br>▫️Most threes in a women’s NCAA title game (8)<br>▫️Ended South Carolina’s 42-game winning streak <a href=”https://t.co/Ta0npZtHIK”>pic.twitter.com/Ta0npZtHIK</a>
Even as he watched the Final Four from the outside looking in for the first time in 14 tournaments, UConn women’s head coach Geno Auriemma couldn’t help but be in awe of what the Hawkeyes star was doing.
“My daughter said, ‘She’s Pete Maravich,'” Auriemma said. “And I thought, ‘You know what? She’s right. She’s Pete Maravich with the three-point line.’ She has free rein to take any shot, anytime, from anywhere, and she believes that it’s going in.”
The green light has been on for Clark all season, and with good reason, as she finished as the second-highest scorer in the country at 27.7 points per game and led the top-scoring offense in all of Division I at 87.3 points per game.
Clark was the most decorated player in the country this season, winning the Naismith Player of the Year and earning unanimous First-Team All-American honors for the second year in a row.
Iowa ultimately fell one win short of its ultimate goal as the Hawkeyes lost 102-85 to LSU in the national championship on Sunday in Dallas, ending their dream of bringing their first title to Iowa City.
The 21-year-old superstar still finished with a game-high 30 points and eight assists on 42.1 percent shooting from three.
And, much to the joy of Iowa fans, Clark will be back again next year, as she’s not eligible to enter the 2023 WNBA draft.
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