WBB Game Notes: Illinois

WBB Game Notes: Illinois

PROGRAM QUICK HITS
• Iowa broke the WBB all-time attendance record for a single game with 55,646 on hand for the Crossover at Kinnick exhibition against DePaul.
• National Player of the Year candidate, Caitlin Clark, is the first Division-I player to record 3,500+ points, 1,000+ assists, and 800+ rebounds in a career.
• Clark is the Big Ten’s all-time leader in points and assists.
• Gabbie Marshall became the first Iowa women’s basketball player to register 200+ 3-pointers made and 200+ steals in a career.
• Iowa has three AP Top 20 wins this season.
• Caitlin Clark broke the CHA/program record with 49 points against Michigan.
• The Hawkeyes won the 2023 Gulf Coast Showcase in Estero, Fla., with three games in three days. Clark was named the Tournament MVP.
• Since 2008, Bluder’s teams own a 241-43 record inside of Carver-Hawkeye Arena. In that stretch, the Hawkeyes have posted three undefeated seasons at home.
• Over the last nine years, Iowa has dropped the second-fewest regular season home games in the Big Ten.
• Iowa’s 2023-24 roster is comprised of two fifth-year, one graduate, one senior, five juniors, three sophomores, and two freshmen. Four Hawkeyes are Iowa natives, four from Illinois, two from Michigan, and one each from Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, Ohio.
• Seven Big Ten regular-season games will be on a nationally broadcast platform (either NBC or FOX), the most in conference history. The Hawkeyes are featured in five of the seven contests.
• Iowa WBB has helped sellout or break an attendance record in 30 of 32 games this season. The other two games in which Iowa did not set a record was the first round and championship of the Gulf Coast Showcase in Estero, Fla.
• Iowa has won 16 of its last 19 against Big Ten foes.
• Clark leads the country in 20+ point performances with 27.
• Clark has scored 20+ points in 112-of-127 career games which is the most in UI history.
• Iowa owns the longest active streak in the AP Top 5 at 17 consecutive weeks.
• Bluder owns a 517-253 (.672) record and a 259-144 (.642) conference mark at Iowa. In her 39 seasons as a head coach, Bluder is 873-395 (.688).

THIS WEEK
The fourth-ranked Hawkeyes will return home to take on Illinois on Feb. 25. Tip-off is set for Noon (CT) inside a sold-out Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

WATCH/FOLLOW ALONG
• Sunday’s contest will air on FS1, Sirius XM (CH 84) and the Hawkeye Radio Network.

AUDIO COVERAGE
• Rob Brooks and Tiff Reedy will call the action on the Hawkeye Radio Network.
• Brooks is in his eighth year as the play-by-play announcer for the Iowa women’s basketball team. He has been Iowa football’s sideline reporter since 2004. Brooks has called seven different Iowa sports on radio or television.
• The Hawkeye Radio Network had over 30,000 listeners on YouTube in Iowa’s win over Kansas State in the GC Showcase Championship, which is a station record.
• Reedy is in her first full season providing color for radio with the Iowa women’s basketball program.
• Reedy was four-year letterwinner from 2002-06 at Iowa and is a native of Dysart, Iowa.

THE SERIES
• This will be the 81st meeting between the two programs.
• Iowa leads the all-time series, 60-20.
• The Hawkeyes are 8-2 against the Illini in the last 10 meetings.
• Iowa has scored 80+ points in seven straight matchups with the Illini. (6-1)
• Illinois handed Iowa its first unranked loss a season ago in Champaign, 90-86 on Jan. 1, 2023.
• Iowa is 31-2 all-time against Illinois in Carver-Hawkeye Arena. » 2007 was the last time Illinois won in Iowa City.

WHAT 2 WATCH 4
• Clark is 12 3-point field goals from breaking the NCAA’s all-time record in a single season.
• Marshall (154) and Martin (152) are eyeing Monika Czinano’s games played record. (162)
• Iowa is 38-6 in Big Ten Conference action since Feb. 9, 2022. » Iowa is 8-4 when Clark records 40 or more points. » Clark has 60 career games with 25+ points, 5+ assists, and 5+ rebounds. (NCAA Best)
• Over the last 25 seasons, no has recorded more 30+ point games in men’s or women’s college basketball than Clark. (53) » Kate Martin has recorded 15+ points in 15 games this year which is a career-best.
• Lisa Bluder owns eight straight 20-win seasons. It is the longest streak in her career, C. Vivian Stringer had 10 consecutive 20+ win seasons from 1984-94.
• Martin has six career double-doubles and a career-best four this season.
• Clark has 18 games in her career with 35+ points, 5+ assists, 5+ rebounds which is the most in women’s college basketball since 2009-10.
• Clark has three career triple-doubles of the 35-point variety. All other play- ers in women’s college basketball history have four. » Clark has registered 25+ points, 5+ assists, and 5+ rebounds in 18 out of the last 21 games.
• Clark kept her alive streak of 84 consecutive games making a 3-point bas- ket. (NCAA best)
• Clark is eight 3FGs and 32 FTs from the career B1G crowns in both categories.
• Among active players whom didn’t transfer, Marshall (118) and Martin (115) are third and fourth nationally for most active wins in a career.

SCOUTING ILLINOIS
• Illinois improved to 13-12 overall and 7-8 in the Big Ten, dropping No. 14 Indiana, 88-66, on Monday afternoon in Champaign.
• It was the first ranked win for the Illini this season. With the 20-point win, the Orange and Blue snapped a 16-game skid against the Hoosiers and clinched their biggest margin of victory over a ranked opponent since 1998.
• Illinois is 3-5 on the road this season. » Makira Cook tallied a team-high 22 points against the Hoosiers, her fourth outing this season with at least 20+ points.
• Kendall Bostic leads Illinois with nine double-doubles this year.
• The Illini had a program-record matching six players score in double figures against IU (Bostic, Bryant, Cook, Dolan, Hobby and McKenzie.)
• The Illini are 1-3 against AP Top 25 opponents this season.