Lisa Bluder praises how Iowa players handled hype surrounding Caitlin Clark's record chase

While Caitlin Clark’s record-breaking performance may be the primarily storyline to some fans, Iowa head coach Lisa Bluder says the Hawkeyes have done a good job staying focused to lead Ohio State in the fourth quarter.

Clark cashed in with her 18th point of the afternoon just before the second quarter horn to break Pete Maravich’s record before halftime. With that ceremonious moment out of the way, the second half was all about ball, and Iowa continued to lead for the entire third quarter against the nation’s No. 2 overall team.

By the start of quarter No. 4, Iowa was up double digits, which is when FOX sideline reporter Allison Williams spoke to Coach Bluder. First, she asked how Iowa has taken care of business on the court amid the circus of Clark’s historic feat.

“I mean, it’s been great. All the distractions that we’ve had today, amazing crowd again, I feel like they’re locked in and ready to go,” Bluder said.

Williams did note that Iowa has found themselves up by 10+ points against Ohio State in the second half before, in their previous game on the Buckeyes’ home court, when OSU ultimately came back and won. Bluder won’t let her group forget that ending as we come down the stretch today.

“Yeah, we’re going to keep mission focus,” Bluder added. “We’re not going to let anything get in our way. We had a similar situation at their place and they came back, so we’re going to stay mission focused on this one.”

Clark on breaking the record

Caitlin Clark made history in the first half of the Hawkeyes’ game against Ohio State, breaking Pistol Pete Maravich‘s NCAA all-time scoring record.

Clark reached the milestone at the free throw line, following a technical foul, which she reflected on while speaking to Fox Sports going into the locker room for halftime.

“Not really, but then when they announce it and everybody screams, that’s when I knew,” Caitlin Clark said. “But pretty cool. A good half for us. I think we can do a little better job on defense and clean it up a little bit, but proud of our girls. We’re fighting. They’re a really good team and they’re gonna give us everything they’ve got.”

Iowa had a monster half on offense, scoring 48 points as a team. Still, the Hawkeyes are looking to improve on that, and going into the second half, Caitlin Clark believes that to improve on Iowa’s offense, it’s going to start with getting stops on defense.

“Keep switching up our defense, I think that’s causing them a little bit of problems. I think taking care of the ball. We had a couple of turnovers we didn’t really need. Knowing when to slow down and run our offense but knowing when to push. So, I think balancing those two things. Then, just rebounding and go.”