Caitlin Clark’s sneaky genius play clinched Iowa’s Final Four victory over UConn

Iowa superstar Caitlin Clark did not have her finest game against UConn in the 2024 women’s Final Four. The Huskies face-guarded Clark with a long and rangey defender in Nika Mühl throughout the night, and it produced her lowest scoring performance all season.

Clark still finished with 21 points despite a rough night. She also made the smartest play of the game to ice the win and send Iowa to the national championship game for the second year in a row.

Iowa beat UConn, 71-69, to move on to the title game against No. 1 overall seed South Carolina on Sunday. Unfortunately, the Iowa-UConn game was determined by a controversial moving screen against the Huskies that will probably be debated until the end of time.

Iowa still had to close out the game after the officials dinged UConn’s Aaliyah Edwards for the moving screen. Clark inbounded the ball under her own basket with just over one second remaining. With UConn star Paige Bueckers having her back to Clark, the Iowa star threw it off her leg as valuable time ticked away on the game clock. Clark’s sneaky-smart pass solidified the win for Iowa. Watch it here:

The greats always find a way, even on an off night.

Clark spoke about the play after the game: “I watch a lot of basketball. I understand basketball. She had her back turned to me …. I was trying to waste some clock. It just came to my brain and kind of worked.”

Clark shot 7-of-18 from the floor, and 3-of-11 from three. She continued her streak of scoring 20+ points in every game this season, but she tied her lowest-scoring performance of the season against the Huskies.

Credit UConn’s defense for making it hard on her all night. Credit Clark with still finding a way to make a super smart play at the end of the game to secure the win.