Iowa Hawkeyes give a rocking performance on a national stage behind megastar Caitlin Clark

ALBANY, N.Y. — They came to attack, to defend, to be fearless, to rise above everything.

“Our big word was ‘elevating.’ Elevate above the turbulence,” said Iowa women’s basketball associate head coach Jan Jensen. “Elevate. And everybody was.”

How could you raise your game more in a major moment than Iowa did in its 94-87 NCAA tournament Elite Eight win over LSU? That would be a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside a second-straight NCAA women’s basketball Final Four berth.

The Hawkeyes are headed for Cleveland, and that city is about to see the definition of basketball rock n’ roll. Oh, what a rocking performance on the national stage was given Monday by Caitlin Clark and her group.

Clark’s New York management firm will have its phone lines jammed Tuesday morning. Maybe Nike or Gatorade can come up with clever new wordage to describe what their client did on this night in MVP Arena.

“MVP” isn’t enough after Clark’s 41 points and 12 assists that had Iowa, LSU and neutral fans here shaking their heads and dropping their jaws repeatedly over four quarters.

But it wasn’t just Clark. Addi O’Grady, take a bow. With Hannah Stuelke in foul trouble, backup center O’Grady battled Angel Reese for 14 minutes on defense and showed no hesitation going to the basket against the taller Tigers.

“I think that was our game plan,” O’Grady said, “trying to be really aggressive, trying to be aggressive on the block.”

RAYGUN, get a new O’Grady T-shirt printed Tuesday.

Oh, and it was Stuelke with the three-point play with 2:29 left that got the wildest reaction of the night from her four teammates on the floor. Clark got in Stuelke’s face and gave her jersey a joyous tug.

Reese had 20 rebounds, 17 points. She was, however, 1-of-10 from the field in the second half. In the end, it was LSU Coach Kim Mulkey stomping her feet in anger and Hawkeye fans and pep band members waving goodbye to Reese after she got her fifth foul on a dubious call with 2:29 left.

The die had already been cast. In this Iowa-LSU meeting, the officiating wasn’t a postgame storyline. Reese and her 31-win team was left in the dust as the Hawkeyes proceeded toward confetti.

The Hawkeyes got out-rebounded 54-36, but only let the Tigers convert their 23 offensive rebounds for just 14 second-chance points. There are other ways to win besides owning the glass.

An airtight way is to have Clark on your team. Her numbers again were dazzling. At 9-of-20 from deep, her 3-point eye was back after she made just 30.1 percent of her 3s over the previous seven games.

“I think for myself I probably haven't been shooting it as good from 3 over the course of the last five or so games,” Clark said. “But even if you told me that, I would still have 110 percent belief in myself and what I've been able to do this year.

“I think that just speaks to the confidence I have in myself and the time I've put in the gym. I know I'm ready for this moment.”

As much as her outrageous shooting and passing, it was Clark’s calm and leadership that made a huge impact.

“I thought she did a real good job staying poised and staying levelheaded,” said Iowa senior forward Kate Martin. “I thought that was super-necessary for us for this game, not letting anything get to us and just rise above it all.”

Elevation. Martin had plenty of it herself with 21 points. She ran and ran the floor to turn great Clark feeds into scores. She repeatedly went strong to the basket without showing an iota of being intimidated by great interior defenders Reese and Aneesah Morrow.

Before the game, Iowa’s players took turns holding a pair of scissors that Iowa Coach Lisa Bluder had brought to the arena.

“Coach Bluder is really big on visualization and manifesting,” Martin said. “So when we were in our circle we passed around some scissors because we wanted to cut down the nets at the end of the game.

“I’m a huge believer in visualization. I do it before every single game. You’ve got to visualize positive things and they’ll come to you. I’m glad we have a coach that believes in us like that.”

Monday, seeing Iowa was believing Iowa for millions of ESPN viewers.

This game wasn’t about lingering hard feelings from anyone about last year’s championship bout. It was on a far higher plane. Elevation.

The Hawkeyes repeatedly said before and after this game that they didn’t care who they were playing. They were focused on themselves.

Connecticut, however, would be well-advised to dwell on Clark and the Hawkeyes from now until they meet Friday night.

Another Final Four. Cleveland. Rock n’ roll!

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