Iowa’s Caitlin Clark’s shooting numbers have dipped; her confidence hasn’t

IOWA CITY — Caitlin Clark isn’t worried.

Yes, her shooting numbers have dipped in her sophomore season with the University of Iowa women’s basketball team.

No, her confidence hasn’t wavered. As you’d expect.

“My confidence is still where is needs to be,” she said during a Zoom conference call Monday. “I’m shooting it fine in practice. I’m going to keep shooting, no matter what. When we need big shots, I’m going to step up and take those, too.”

As a freshman, Clark shot 47.2 percent from the field, 40.6 percent from 3-point range in averaging 26.6 points per game.

Through eight games in a stop-and-go season thus far, she is hitting 38.4 percent (58 of 151) from the floor, 25.9 percent (21 of 81) from long range.

Clark, who is scoring at a 22.4-point clip, pointed out — accurately — that her free-throw shooting remains strong (87.5 percent, compared to 85.8 a year ago) and — accurately again — that “my rebounding and assists are good.”

She leads the team in rebounding (8.8 boards per game) and her rate of 7.0 assists per game ranks second nationally.

“I think the law of averages will take care of (the shooting),” Clark said. “I just need to string together some good games, and I will.”

The 15th-ranked Hawkeyes (6-2) face their final non-conference test of the season at 2 p.m. Tuesday at Carver-Hawkeye Arena, against an IUPUI outfit that could provide more of a challenge than its 4-4 record might indicate.

Two of the Jaguars’ losses were Horizon League forfeits, due to a COVID-19 outbreak. This is a team that took Michigan to overtime early in the season.

“They have a very good center (Macee Williams) and is a very good 3-point shooting team,” Iowa Coach Lisa Bluder said.

The Jaguars are hitting 38.5 percent from long range.

Bluder isn’t excited about Tuesday’s tip time; the Iowa men play at 7 p.m. against Southeastern Louisiana.

“It’s not a perfect time to get good attendance, but it’s a good time for the players to leave, to get home for the holidays,” she said.

The Hawkeyes will return to campus Sunday, then resume Big Ten play Dec. 30 at Penn State.

Iowa was forced to cancel three November games (Drake at home, Seton Hall and USC at the Cancun Challenge) due to its own COVID-19 experience. Those games were recorded as no-contests.

No Big Ten games will be rescheduled; anybody unable to play due to COVID will take a loss via forfeit.

Bluder said the Hawkeyes made two offers to add games.

“We asked Drake if they could come to (Carver) Dec. 27, and they declined. We asked IUPUI if they would want to play back-to-back games (today and Tuesday), and they declined,” Bluder said. “It’s not like there are a plethora of opportunities.”

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