Clark helped Iowa get ready for an upset win while she was in town for her jersey retirement ceremony.
Before Iowa retired Caitlin Clark’s jersey on Feb. 2, the WNBA Rookie of the Year was busy helping the Hawkeyes get ready to upset USC. The preparation worked, with Iowa handing the Trojans their first Big Ten loss of the season.
Clark practiced with Iowa before the game, which current Hawkeyes star Lucy Olsen said helped the team prepare for the firepower of USC’s superstar JuJu Watkins. Clark’s stardom brought the best scout team decoy to help mimic all that Watkins brings. An intense, competitive dress rehearsal. And Olsen said the former Hawkeye didn’t let up.
“Oh, [Clark] was competitive,” Olsen said to Rachel DeMita on an episode of Courtside Club. “It was helpful that she hits tough shots just like JuJu does, so it was like ‘Okay, she’s going to hit some,’ but we got to move onto the next play. It wasn’t like we were surprised like ‘Oh my god, how did JuJu just hit that,’ because we saw that yesterday. … It was right on us, so we’re used to that and onto the next one.”
Rachel DeMita asked Lucy Olsen about Caitlin practicing with the team before the USC game.
“Ohhh she was competitive. Yeah it was helpful that she hits tough shots just like Juju does…alright we saw that yesterday.”
— correlation (@nosyone4) February 24, 2025Iowa held onto a 76-69 win despite Watkins’s 27 points. She was held to just 1-for-7 shooting on three-pointers and went 8-for-22 from the field. Olsen had 28 points in the big win. She’s averaging 17.2 points per game as she stars for Iowa this season. Watkins is averaging 24.2 points per game thus far during her sophomore year with No. 4-ranked USC, who is 25-2 and hasn’t lost since they traveled to Iowa.
Clark watched her famous No. 22 go into the rafters following the game after she helped her alma mater secure their best win of the season. All in a day’s work.
Angel Reese Had Profound Reaction to Historic Unrivaled Performance
Reese tallied the first 20-point, 20-rebound game in Unrivaled history Friday.
Angel Reese dominated Friday night in Unrivaled, the new three-on-three women’s basketball league co-founded by WNBA stars Napheesa Collier and Breanna Stewart.
Reese’s Rose Basketball Club upset Collier’s Lunar Owls squad, which was undefeated heading into the night. Reese dropped 22 points and grabbed 21 rebounds in the win, becoming the first player to record a 20-point, 20-rebound game in Unrivaled’s brief history.
And she did it all in just 23 minutes of play, fouling out just before Rose BC finished the big 72-63 upset win to improve to 5-4 during Unrivaled’s inaugural season.
After the game, Reese opened up about the weight on her shoulders as a young star who often receives unwarranted criticism.
“It’s so much I can say. But for me, to keep going, it’s hard. It is hard,” Reese said to reporters postgame as she held back emotions, via USA Today‘s Safid Deen. “To live my life isn’t easy. And I don’t want to get emotional, but that’s why I put the work in every day.
“There are little girls that look up to me. There are the college girls that look up to me. And just being able to be an inspiration every day—that’s why I try to keep going through all the negativity. … At 22, it’s hard living this life. But I’m grateful. I’m blessed. And being here at Unrivaled has been the best thing for me.”
She is averaging a double-double with 12.1 points and 11.4 rebounds per game through nine games in Unrivaled. Reese and Rose BC are back in action Monday against Phantom Basketball Club, which features stars Brittney Griner, Sabrina Ionescu and Satou Sabally.
