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Iowa upsets No. 4 USC, 76-69, on day of Caitlin Clark's jersey retirement ceremony

Trojans star JuJu Watkins was outscored by the Hawkeyes' Lucy Olsen

ian casselberry
Contributing writer
·3-min read

Losing at home on the day Caitlin Clark's jersey was retired by the Iowa women's basketball program would have sent the fans at Carver-Hawkeye Arena home on a down note. So the Hawkeyes didn't let that happen.

Iowa upset No. 4 USC, 76-69, on Sunday afternoon in front of a sold-out crowd that included Clark's teammates Kate Martin and Gabbie Marshall, former Hawkeyes coach Lisa Bluder, new Indiana Fever coach Stephanie White and legendary late-night TV host David Letterman.

The Trojans took their first loss in Big Ten play and only their second overall defeat of the season. USC had won 15 consecutive games going into Sunday's contest, with their only defeat coming to then-No. 6 Notre Dame on Nov. 23.

Iowa took a 51-50 lead as the third quarter ended on a basket by Lucy Olsen. After Avery Howell hit a 3 to tie the score at 53-53, the Hawkeyes regained the lead on another shot by Olsen and narrowly stayed in front until opening up a 69-60 margin with three minutes remaining in regulation.

The Hawkeyes soared to an 18-4 lead in the first quarter while USC shot 0-for-13 from the floor until JuJu Watkins hit a 3-pointer with 26 seconds remaining in the frame. But the Trojans righted themselves in the second quarter, going on a 19-2 run before the half. Watkins outscored Iowa by herself, 15-10, and USC led at halftime, 29-28.

Olsen scored a game-high 28 points, shooting 10-for-18 from the floor with four rebounds, four assists and three steals. Addison O'Grady added 13 points, followed by Sydney Affolter’s 11 points, nine rebounds and five steals.

Watkins finished with 27 points on 8-for-22 shooting for the Trojans. Kiki Iriafen added 13 points and eight rebounds, while Kennedy Smith tallied 11 points with four rebounds and four steals.

USC (19-2, 9-1) stays in the Midwest for a game on Wednesday versus Wisconsin (11-11, 1-9) while Iowa (15-7, 5-6) travels to Minnesota (18-4, 6-3) for a Thursday matchup.

Following Iowa's big win, Clark's No. 22 jersey was retired by the program.

During her four seasons in Iowa City, Clark averaged 28.4 points, 6.7 rebounds and 8.2 assists, shooting 37% on 3-pointers. She was a three-time All-American and earned Naismith College Player of the Year, the Wooden Award and AP Player of the Year honors twice.

“Well, it’s been fun looking back on this whole past year and everything that’s been able to happen," Clark said in a press conference before the game.

"But just the journey we went on, I think reflecting back on my entire career, whether the beginning when I didn’t play in front of anybody to the very end where we went to our second Final Four and second national championship game and just how much things changed not only for our program, but how much things changed for women’s basketball."

Clark finished her college career as the NCAA's all-time leading scorer with 3,951 points and led the nation in scoring and assists three times.