The atmosphere at the ISU-Iowa women’s game in Carver was like old (but still new) times

IOWA CITY – This is year 1 AC here. To Caitlin.

There was no way the air in Carver-Hawkeye Arena couldn’t escape at least a little from the balloon once the quixotic Caitlin Clark was gone. All the great times here over the last few years, with crowds that have gone up to 11 on a scale of 1 to 10 – you can’t repeat that.

Except …

Unless you were brought to Carver on Wednesday night, not knowing that Clark was a one-year WNBA veteran, and tricked into thinking she had come back for one final college season instead, blindfolding you and the public The announcer didn’t mention any players’ names and you just listened to the noise of the crowd…

One would say Clark is still doing Clark things here.

No. 21 Iowa trailed for most of Wednesday’s game but dominated the fourth quarter to claim a 75-69 victory over No. 18 Iowa State in front of a sellout crowd of 14,998 that reached the roof with their cheers Tried to blow up a garbage dump. Not just during erasing a 10-point deficit in the third quarter, but throughout the entire game.

“It was really fun,” said Iowa guard Lucy Olsen, who matched her high as a Hawkeye with 25 points. “I’ve never experienced anything like this.”

Olsen was third in the nation in scoring last year at Villanova and is in a great women’s basketball conference, the Big East. But their 22-win Wildcats team averaged 2,005 fans at home and 2,617 away.

There was no guarantee that Olsen would play here in front of as many crowds as Clark, Kate Martin and Gabbie Marshall did last season when Carver sold out for the season in advance. Nevertheless, 14,998 tickets were sold for each game.

Olsen, who may already have set a team record for smiles in a season, has an audience for her talent.

“The very first friendly, their eyes were like, ‘Oh my God, this is unbelievable,'” Iowa coach Jan Jensen said. “And I told her, ‘Wait until we actually see the games that our fans won’t give up their tickets for, right?’ You won’t believe what it’s going to be like.’”

Jensen is Iowa’s first female head coach, but she has been here since 2000. This sold out stuff is still new here. It wasn’t a sellout here two years ago when 10th-ranked Iowa State lost 70-57 to 16th-ranked Iowa here.

A future National Player of the Year (Megan Gustafson) and a future Big Ten Player of the Year (Kathleen Doyle) were among the Iowa teams that defeated the Cyclones here in 2016 and 2018. These games had 4,579 and 6,289 fans respectively.

So why was Jensen confident that the Carver volume would stay close to 11 this season?

“I think maybe because I’ve been here for 24 years and I know so many of our fans,” she said. “They were with us.

“There was a really great group of fans that were in the top 25 (in terms of NCAA attendance), top 20. But what was notable, we have a kid who was Time (magazine) Athlete yesterday of the year was chosen. And she shoots from Kinnick, and she does it with a flair never seen before.

“And that fan base, what I’m so nostalgic about is people, they were rewarded for being a part of it. And I didn’t think they would all disappear.”

The old fans knew that the Lisa Bluder/Jensen-coached Iowa teams didn’t just start playing a fun, fast, quick, skillful game when Clark came to them. Meanwhile, the many who jumped on the Clark rocket quickly grew to love the Hawkeyes team.

“I didn’t know if we would sell out (for the season),” Jensen said, “but I didn’t think we wouldn’t have a lot of fans.”

She said she was emotional when she learned that all tickets had been purchased again this season. Emotions could be seen and heard throughout the arena on Wednesday.

It’s not a big game unless the opponent is good. Cyclone sophomore Audi Crooks was Audi-matic for three quarters en route to 31 points. ISU coach Bill Fennelly then praised the crowd and the Hawkeyes.

“It’s cool when the bus arrives and there’s traffic and people,” Fennelly said. “This is what young people deserve. And I think our state is a state that has been committed to women’s basketball for a long time.”

It’s 1AC. But the fans growling the traffic and sniffing Carver cones are still excited. The Hawkeyes rewarded them again on Wednesday.

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