Buffs ready for Sweet 16 battle vs. Clark-led Iowa
ALBANY, N.Y. >> The spotlight that shines on Iowa’s Caitlin Clark may not be quite as bright as the one that shined on the Coach Prime-led Colorado football team last season, but it’s close.
While the CU women’s basketball team has been able to enjoy some of the glow of the Prime spotlight, they are sharing that stage with Clark — to some extent — this week.
Of course, by sharing the spotlight, that means the Buffs are viewed by many as the next hurdle in Clark’s historic college basketball career.
On Saturday, the fifthseeded Buffaloes will face top-seeded Iowa in the Sweet 16 at MVP Arena.
Many of the questions asked of the Buffs have been similar: How do you stop Clark, the biggest star in the game and the all-time leading scorer in college basketball history? And, how will the Buffs handle an atmosphere that, while technically a neutral court, will likely be heavily weighted with Hawkeye (or Clark) fans?
Clark, a top candidate for national player of the year honors, leads the country in scoring (31.8 points per game) and assists (8.8). She also takes and makes more 3-pointers than anyone in the country, many of them from Steph Curry range.
Stopping Clark isn’t likely. She has scored at least 21 points in her past 45 games played, dating back to last season. Doing enough to beat Iowa, however, is possible.
“(Clark) is a tremendous player,” CU head coach JR Payne said. “She’s the leading scorer in the history of our game for a reason. There’s nothing that anyone could do or say to take that away. We do feel like in the Pac-12 Conference we’re very fortunate that we’ve played against a lot of really good teams — collectively great teams, individually great talent, whether that’s in the post or on the perimeter.
“We said this going into the (Kansas State game last Sunday), we felt very prepared to play K-state because we are built for it. We have seen great players and great teams all season long. And it kind of feels the same going against Iowa. We’ve played against great teams, we’ve played against great players. The game plan might look different but we do feel prepared for sure.”
Perhaps West Virginia gave the Buffs a blueprint. The Mountaineers gave Iowa all it could handle in Monday’s second-round game before losing 64-54. The game was tied late before Iowa pulled away at the free throw line.
“I definitely watched that game and saw how (West Virginia) frustrated them on defense,” CU’S Frida Formann said. “I think we’re a really good defensive team. And we’re not the same as West Virginia, but I think you could see in the K-state game that just our defense can win games. That’s the mentality we’re going in with, and hopefully we’ll be able to control the physical aspect. We don’t want to get in foul trouble, but obviously with a good player like Caitlin Clark you have to be some sort of physical with her, but just trying to be smart about it.”
Foul trouble was costly in CU’S Sweet 16 loss to Iowa a year ago in Seattle. CU was within four points with 80 seconds to play, but couldn’t overcome having three starters — Formann, Jaylyn Sherrod and Aaronette Vonleh — foul out.