Iowa State coach Kaitlin Clark says the team is now missing leadership after Clark is gone

The University of Iowa women’s basketball team and head coach Jan Jensen are having their first season without stars Caitlin Clark Since 2019.

Hockey They started 12-4 and are ranked 23rd in the nation, but struggled in conference play in the first year of the newly expanded Big 10, going just 2-3.

Jensen addressed the team’s “lack of senior leadership” to reporters after the loss to Illinois on Thursday — in which the Hawkeyes lost back-to-back conference games for the first time since Clark’s freshman season — citing the youth of the current roster.

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“I can’t compare to what happened in the past, because these guys give me so much and they’re still young, and I have to develop a little bit of senior leadership or senior leadership, because that’s what we are.” “Missing,” Jensen said.

In four seasons at Iowa State, Clark broke the NCAA scoring record among men’s and women’s players, leading the team to the NCAA Championship game twice. She was also a consensus national player of the year as a junior or senior.

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Clark was selected with the No. 1 pick in last year’s WNBA draft by the Indiana Fever after her career at Iowa State.

As a WNBA rookie in 2024, Clark set records for the most points and three-pointers by a rookie in league history, while also becoming the first rookie to record a triple-double, a feat she accomplished twice. Her 337 assists were not only the most by a rookie, but the most by any player ever in a single season.

The Iowa State women’s basketball team announced it will hold a ceremony to retire Clark’s jersey on February 2.

Clark No. 22, which she wears feverwill hang from the rafters of Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City after a ceremony honoring the program’s most accomplished player.

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Clark is expected to be in attendance, and the event will be broadcast on FOX.

Clarke’s retirement from the jersey will come just two months after Time magazine named her Female Athlete of the Year. This choice drew praise, but also criticism from some, including Sheila Johnson, owner of the Washington Mystics, who… I wondered recently In an interview with CNN, he asked why Clark was chosen for this honor and not the entire WNBA. Johnson suggested it had to do with Clark’s race.

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