Caitlin Clark explains how she finds success against Nebraska in her career

Caitlin Clark put on another clinic in Iowa’s 93-72 win over Nebraska Saturday afternoon. The fifth-ranked Hawkeyes were a little sluggish in the first half but turned up the juice thanks to their all-star.

But it was the latest performance that stood out, and it was against Nebraska no less. So Clark was asked if there’s extra motivation.

Perhaps it’s just a coincidence and Clark loves playing the hard-nosed Huskers.

“There’s always people that you just enjoy (playing) a little more,” Clark said postgame. “I like going to Nebraska like these games … you enjoy going to whatever level you’re at. When I was in high school there’s certain gyms I liked playing in. I feel like we always have good battles with them. No matter what it is they always come ready to play, their size and you know, they’re a talented team and thought we played well after the first time. 

“Rebounding has to be a lot better, we’re gonna play teams that can rebound well … but it was a point of emphasis and still didn’t get it done in the second half. So I think that’s just another area to improve on.” 

Clark also acknowledged head coach Lisa Bluder called a timely timeout, no pun intended, to get Iowa going just before halftime.

“She just fired us up and that’s like what I love about her,” Clark said. “Like she’s gonna get on us and coach us and none of us ever want to let her down. Like, we want to make her proud and we know what she’s given to our team, she’s one of the best minds in basketball that there’s ever been. 

“We knew ourselves that we weren’t playing to the standard of our basketball. And I think those last couple minutes of the second quarter were really important. I felt like we kind of took the momentum back going into halftime and you know, we’re down four and we end up going up five at half, like that’s a huge swing right there.”

Clark finished the game with 38 points, 10 rebounds and six assists. Kate Martin added 16 points, five rebounds and four assists.

Overall, Clark got good contributions from her teammates.

Iowa will resume action on the road against Northwestern Wednesday at 8:00 p.m ET. You have to wonder if Clark loves playing the Wildcats as well.