The Caitlin Clark Show visited New Jersey, and Iowa’s star did not disappoint vs. Rutgers

PISCATAWAY, N.J. — The Caitlin Clark show came to this part of the country on Friday night, and it was the real thing.

College basketball’s biggest star — women’s or men’s these days, if we’re honest — drew a sellout crowd of 8,000 to Jersey Mike’s Arena for Iowa’s visit to Rutgers. It was the Scarlet Knights’ women’s team’s first sellout for any visitor other than Connecticut.

There was a lot of black and gold among the red, and while the split of people was fairly even, the split of noise was not. The visiting fans gave a big cheer when Clark’s name was announced in the Hawkeyes’ starting lineup, and then every time she scored.

After she laid down a triple-double in Iowa’s 103-69 blowout, there was one more roar as she ran off the court, with quick stops to give hugs to family and autographs to young girls nearby.

“A lot of little girls — probably the most I’ve seen in a long time,” Clark said. “Obviously at our place, we always have a lot, but we don’t get to come out to the East Coast much, so this is a fun spot for us to come and play. … The cheer I got when I ran off the court was pretty awesome.”

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Before the game, a Rutgers staffer with Philadelphia roots summed up the mood on campus: it felt like when Lionel Messi visited the Union last summer.

She wasn’t wrong. The parking lots were busy well before tipoff, and long lines of fans waited for the gates to open. There was a spike in media attending from New York and nationally. There were specks of New York Liberty sea-foam green in the stands, a sign of fans who just wanted to see big-time basketball.

If you had none of the above colors to wear, a Phillies or Eagles hat was enough to be noticed. Rutgers is the closest team to Philadelphia that Iowa plays, after all, and the Hawkeyes are a rare sight around here. Their women’s team hasn’t played a Big 5 school since a 2003 neutral-court meeting with St. Joseph’s, and hasn’t come to Philadelphia since a 1984 visit to La Salle.

A few people in the building Friday knew that history, including a famous one: legendary coach C. Vivian Stringer. She led Iowa’s program from 1983 to 1995, then Rutgers’ until 2022.

So it was fitting that the Scarlet Knights chose this game to honor her for receiving this year’s Naismith award for outstanding contributions to the women’s game. Both teams gathered around her during the ceremony, and both sets of fans applauded.

“I’ve always considered C. Vivian a friend, a mentor of mine — I used to work at her camps,” Iowa coach Lisa Bluder said. “So it’s very meaningful for me to be able to be here, to show our respects for her unbelievable contribution to women’s basketball at so many places.”

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Clark’s last game at Rutgers was Feb. 24, 2022, her sophomore season. The attendance then was just 1,852.

When a reporter started reflecting on past times when arenas were “half-full,” Bluder interrupted her.

“Half-full?” she said with a laugh. “That might be an exaggeration.”

Forty years into her coaching career, there’s finally no need to exaggerate.

“I think we appreciate it — I don’t think we’re used to it, but I think we’d be disappointed if it wasn’t there now, to be quite honest,” Bluder said. “We’ve built it, we enjoy it, we want it to keep coming. I mean, why would we not?”

The next time Clark plays in this part of the country, the crowd could be even bigger. If Clark heads to the WNBA after this season, which she hasn’t decided on yet, she’ll visit the New York Liberty later in the year. The Indiana Fever have the No. 1 pick in the April 15 draft and seem ready to use it on her.

Until then, Clark will cherish what innocence there is left in the college environment, and her status as an ambassador for the women’s game.

“Everybody on our team is such a good role model, and always going to go out of their way to inspire somebody else, give them a second of our time,” she said. “That’s how the game grows. That’s always what I wanted my favorite players to do for me.”

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It happened when the Iowa native traveled to Minnesota Lynx WNBA games as a kid, watching stars like Maya Moore and Lindsay Whalen.

“I met so many of the players,” she said. “That stuck with me, and I’m now 21, almost 22. Those are just really cool, special moments that people cherish forever.”

Asked if she took time during the game to marvel at Clark’s talent, second-year coach Coquese Washington said she did not. No surprise there — she was hired to bring Rutgers back to the heights Stringer reached. But when she watches the film, Washington might let herself enjoy it.

“Sometimes it can be a surreal experience to watch genius at work, to watch excellence at work,” she said. “And certainly, when you coach against Caitlin Clark, you’re watching genius at work.”

Clark delivered 29 points, 10 assists, and 10 rebounds. But let the record show it wasn’t Clark’s night alone. Four of her teammates also scored in double figures.

“The light that shines on Caitlin shines on this team,” said guard Gabbie Marshall, one of those four. “You know, she can’t go one-on-five — I mean, she could try, she’d do pretty well. But people around her, I mean, we all just play our roles really well.”

Iowa hopes to make it back to the national title game after reaching last year’s final, where it lost to LSU. That’s still three months and many games away. One of them is at Maryland on Feb. 3, Clark’s only other East Coast trip this season. It will be another big show.

“It never really surprises me anymore how many Iowa fans there are or little girls screaming in the stands,” she said. “I think it’s something that we’re starting to get used to, starting to get used to the sold-out crowds. But it’s not anything you ever take for granted. Those are the moments you soak in and enjoy every time you have them.”

That goes for a lot of people watching her, too.

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This article has been corrected. The Naismith Award that C. Vivian Stringer got is separate from the Basketball Hall of Fame.