NCAAW Update: Iowa’s Clark Closing in on Scoring Record

When looking at the standings in the major conferences, Louisville leads the ACC by percentage points versus Virginia Tech, Oklahoma is the Big 12 leader and Iowa and Ohio State are tied atop the Big Ten standings. Colorado and Stanford are tied for first place in the Pac-12 while Tennessee is the closest challenger to undefeated South Carolina in the SEC.

The Gamecocks are still listed by our college basketball futures lines with the best odds of winning the NCAAW championship. After South Carolina’s +180 championship odds are defending national champion LSU at +650, UConn at +750, and Iowa at +800.

Closing In On No. 1

Iowa senior guard Caitlin Clark has six consecutive 30-point games after putting up 35 points and 10 assists in a 110-74 win over Northwestern followed by 38 points and 12 assists in a 93-85 victory at Maryland.

Clark is now at 3,462 career points, which is second in NCAA Division I women’s basketball history.

Clark is averaging 32.4 points while shooting a career-best 48.2% from the field.

At her current pace, she would be on the cusp of breaking the record of 3,527 points set by Washington’s Kelsey Plum (2013-17) on Sunday when Iowa plays at Nebraska.

The Hawkeyes open the week with a home game versus Penn State. Clark is averaging 25 points in her three previous games against Penn State.

Clark has scored at least 30 points in each of her seven career matchups with Nebraska and that includes a 38-point effort on Jan. 27. She is averaging 35 points against the Cornhuskers.

If she hits her career averages against Penn State and Nebraska, that would leave Clark three points shy of Plum’s mark so the record chase could return home for a Feb. 15 matchup with Michigan.

Caitlin Clark has been a must-see attraction all season, with sold-out arenas where some tickets have gone for thousands of dollars on the secondary market. For the Iowa star, the huge fan turnout shows the joy that comes with basketball. https://t.co/4IajWXepXe pic.twitter.com/EF2ePE6sL0

— AP Top 25 (@AP_Top25) February 1, 2024

For those who might want to see what all the hype is about, the Penn State-Iowa game will air on the Big Ten Network on Thursday at 9 p.m. ET. Sunday’s 1 p.m. ET game against Nebraska is being televised by FOX.

South Carolina Still the One

Despite some upsets this week, the top 11 teams remain the same in the women’s NCAA NET rankings.

While the NET rankings is just one of the tools used by the NCAA selection committee, if the seeding went according to the NET rankings, the potential regional finals would see No. 8 meeting up No. 1 South Carolina, No. 7 UCLA going against No. 2 Stanford, No. 6 Utah squaring off with No. 3 UConn and No. 5 Iowa playing No. 4 Texas.

Kansas State, North Carolina State and defending national champion LSU would be rather dangerous No. 3 seeds.

A Look at the Polls

South Carolina remained the unanimous No. 1 team in the Associated Press women’s basketball poll.

Iowa moved up one spot to No. 2 while No. 3 North Carolina State and No. 4 Colorado each jumped up two spots. Ohio State went from eighth to fifth and Texas moved from 12th to seventh. They remain among the teams to beat according to the women’s college basketball betting lines

With USC going from 16th to 10th, four of the top 10 teams are from the Pac-12.

Kansas State tumbled from second to eighth after its loss to Texas.

Game of the Week

No. 11 UConn Huskies vs No. 1 South Carolina Gamecocks

• Sunday, Feb. 11, 2 p.m. ET (ESPN)

Before viewers tune into the Super Bowl, they can check out one of the most anticipated games of the women’s college basketball season.

South Carolina is the last remaining undefeated team and the Gamecocks welcome the 11-time national champion UConn Huskies to town.

When the teams met a season ago, it was a rematch of the 2022 national championship game with post players Aliyah Boston and Kamilla Cardoso combining for 43 points and 22 rebounds in the four-point road win. Boston is now playing professionally while Cardoso is one of the top prospects for the upcoming WNBA Draft.

Aaliyah Edwards had 25 points in that game and Paige Bueckers is back after missing all of last season for the Huskies.

Player of the Week

Juju Watkins, Southern California

After shooting 8-for-27 in a loss to Washington, the dynamic freshman responded in a major way by scoring 51 of USC’s 67 points in a win at No. 4 Stanford. That was followed by 29 points, four rebounds, five assists, four steals and two blocked shots in a 10-point win at California.

Watkins has scored at least 20 points in 13 of her last 15 games as USC is tied for fifth in the Pac-12 standings. She joins Notre Dame’s Hannah Hidalgo as the players listed by the sportsbook as the front-runners in the National Freshman of the Year odds.

Team of the Week

Texas Longhorns

Texas posted a pair of wins over ranked teams to improve to 21-3.

Freshman Madison Booker’s 22 points led the Longhorns to the 67-55 win at Baylor and she added 20 points and six assists as the Longhorns went on the road to beat No. 2 Kansas State 61-54.

Texas never trailed in the game and led by as many as 19 points before Kansas State made things interesting with a fourth-quarter surge.

Nationally Televised Top-10 Games

1. No. 15 Louisville at No. 3 North Carolina State, Monday, 7 p.m. ET (ESPN2)
2. Missouri at No. 1 South Carolina, Thursday, 7 p.m. ET (SEC Network)
3. No. 16 Virginia Tech at No. 3 North Carolina State, Thursday, 8 p.m. ET (ACC Network)
4. Penn State at No. 2 Iowa, Thursday, 9 p.m. ET (ACC Network)
5. Oregon at No. 4 Colorado, Friday, 9 p.m. ET (Pac-12 Network)
6. Arizona at No. 9 UCLA, Friday, 11 p.m. ET (Pac-12 Network)
7. No. 2 Iowa at Nebraska, Sunday, 1 p.m. ET (FOX)
8. No. 6 Stanford at Washington State, Sunday, 4 p.m. ET (Pac-12 Network)

Questions Of The Day