With two minutes left in the first quarter, Caitlin Clark grabbed a defensive rebound and sprinted up court. She had options ahead of her. She could thread the needle to a teammate. She could drive to the basket herself. Or … she could take a transition 3.
In what has become common for Iowa’s superstar, Clark pulled up about a foot beyond the arc. It was nothing but net.
Inside Northwestern’s Welsh-Ryan Arena Wednesday night, the raucous Hawkeye fans erupted. Little kids wearing Clark jerseys screamed in excitement. If not for the purple logo at center court, one might mistake this for an Iowa home game.
Clark’s signature long-range shots wow coaches, players and fans across America, and will likely do so Saturday, when Clark and No. 4 Iowa travel to Maryland. But the logo 3s were once a source of contention between the reigning National Player of the Year and her coaches.
“There were some shots that she took in high school that only one of us thought were good shots,” said Kristin Meyer, Clark’s coach at Dowling Catholic High in Des Moines.
In college, Clark is a statistical anomaly. After her 35-point performance Wednesday night in Iowa’s 110-74 win over Northwestern — in which she broke Kelsey Mitchell’s Big Ten scoring record — the senior is just 104 points away from breaking the women’s all-time NCAA scoring record (3,527 points), set by Kelsey Plum in 2017.
Clark shoots 40.1% from 3 this season, and 38.3% for her college career. While the leaders in women’s Division-I this season shoot around 50% from long-distance, Clark has taken nearly 200 more 3s than many of those players.
And she’s not just taking 3s, she’s taking deep 3s. According to CBB Analytics, Clark shoots 39.2% on shots that are 25-30 feet from the rim (in college, the 3-point line is 22 feet, 1 3/4 inches). These are what CBB Analytics call “Long Distance 3s.” Others call them “logo shots.” The D-I average from this range is 29.5%, meaning that Clark shoots the (really) long ball 9.8% better than the national average.
For these reasons, the talk about Clark almost always focuses solely on her scoring ability, even though she’s widely considered the best passer in college basketball too, and also leads the nation in that statistical category.
This poses a potential problem for coaches, especially at the high school level. Players trying to get recruited could try to differentiate themselves with a Clark-like range — even if they haven’t put in the reps like Clark.
“She doesn’t see it necessarily as training or work,” said Meyer, her high school coach. “She does it because she loves it.”
Despite a few meetings between Meyer and Clark about better shot selection, Clark had the confidence and work ethic to improve, Meyer said. Between her freshman and sophomore seasons at Dowling Catholic, Clark went from averaging 15.3 points to 27.1. Once Meyer realized that the deep 3s were just a part of Clark’s game, she encouraged Clark to take them.
Confidence is encouraged, but logo 3s aren’t
Putting in the work is one thing. Actually gaining Clark-range is another. Girls basketball coaches around the country trust their players, but maybe not to shoot logo 3s.
“I think her work-ethic is 100% unicorn-like,” Christina Raiti, head coach of Long Island Lutheran, the No. 2 high school team in the nation according to MaxPreps.com, said of Clark.
One of the talented players Raiti coaches is guard Syla Swords, a five-star recruit who has verbally committed to Michigan. Raiti says that Swords has earned the right to shoot deep 3s, but even she has a limit.
“Maybe no logo 3s,” Raiti said. “That would be a little crazy. She might have to sit down for a little bit.”
Swords herself thinks Clark is changing the perception of what is a good shot among coaches and younger players. It could encourage other players to shoot farther back.
“We haven’t seen someone like her before in the women’s game,” Swords said.
Alicia Komaki, coach at No. 6 Sierra Canyon, echoed this sentiment. While shooting from 25 feet may be a terrible shot for the majority of players, it’s not for Clark.
“Caitlin’s numbers have proven that she’s able to shoot that shot like she can shoot a layup,” Komaki said. “You can’t argue that it’s not a good shot for Steph Curry and not a good shot for her.”
High school coaches say Caitlin Clark is ‘an energy-giver’
Clark’s range might be unicorn-like, but there are other aspects of her game that coaches seek to instill in their players.
“She’s an energy-giver, which is something we talk a lot about. But she’s also elevating the people who are playing with her and making them better basketball players,” Raiti said.
Clark’s mentality is another point of emphasis for high school coaches.
“She’s willing to take the big shot and so we applaud the level of confidence in which she approaches the game with. We also talk about this idea that she puts the work in. That just doesn’t happen by accident,” said Sue Phillips of top-ranked Archbishop Mitty, who has coached players like three-time WNBA All-Star guard Danielle Robinson.
While Philips doesn’t exactly condone her players shooting from the logo, she does think that Clark is a perfect example of someone who has extended her range to improve herself and her team.
“That heat-check is encouraged sometimes,” Phillips said. “You encourage a kid to continue to test their limits to determine where that range is where you can consistently hit the 3.”
Scoring is undoubtedly important, but some coaches think it should be emphasized less by the media — especially when it comes to Clark.
“[The media] sends a message to the kids that you’re only recognized for your ability to score the basketball,” said Tamika Dudley, coach of No. 5 Sidwell Friends in Washington D.C., where five-star recruit and UCLA commit Kendall Dudley plays.
Like many coaches, Dudley doesn’t want her players to just be scorers. She also wants them to be good passers with the desire to improve and confidence to take the big shot — much like Clark.
Clark, her numbers and her style of play, are already impacting the next generation of basketball players, even if emulating her game is a lofty goal. But her impact is felt off the court, too — and some think that might be even more impressive.
“She’s doing a tremendous amount of work to pave the way for women’s sports,” Raiti said. “How can you not be a fan?”
Everett Munez is a graduate student at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism.
