In a nearly empty arena in late November 2020, Caitlin Clark shot her first college 3-pointer. Time is running out in the first quarter of the Hawkeyes’ matchup against Northern Iowa. Clark forced a steal at midcourt and weaved down the right wing. With two defenders around him, he got up. His attempt was blocked.
That did not discourage him.
Now a senior, Clark is perhaps the biggest star in both men’s and women’s college basketball. He made more than 400 3-pointers throughout his college career and rewrote the record books — at Iowa and nationally. “We see it every day in practice, he hits a (shot) that blows your mind or makes a pass that makes your jaw drop,” Iowa assistant Abby Stamp said.
Clark passes with pin-point accuracy. Teammates and coaches praise his work ethic and improved leadership skills. But it’s Clark’s 3-point shooting that often jumps out at viewers right away. He has been compared to several other recent basketball greats — Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry, Milwaukee Bucks guard Damian Lillard and New York Liberty guard Sabrina Ionescu, to name a few. But how does Clark really stack up compared to these sharp-shooters?
Although the NBA and college 3-point lines are different distances (the NBA is 23 feet, 9 inches at the top of the arc, and the college line and WNBA line are both 22 feet, 1 ¾ inches at the top), The Athletic go through six categories to show how great Clark is and explain how he’s become so bad from behind the arc. The comparison — use the button above most graphs to toggle Clark’s numbers from last season and this year (with games through Dec. 14) — shows how the college star is shooting that it is like some all-time professional great.
Clark’s ease with shooting from long range came from years of practice. While visiting home in Des Moines, Clark often takes 100 logo 3-pointers during workouts, his trainer Kevin O’Hare said. His goal is to make at least 50. “It’s something he’s always done,” O’Hare said. He added that before Clark attempts any increase he is “doing all the basic things first to get to that point.” Considering he tries a lot from beyond 30 feet, a 25-to-30-foot 3 is pretty wide.
Through Dec. 14, just over 31 percent of Clark’s shot attempts have come from between 25 and 30 feet of the rim, which is 22.1 percent above the national average this year in college, according to CBB Analytics. He takes 40.5 percent of such looks, more than 11 percent higher than his peers.
It was not by chance that he shot from such a distance, nor was it a chance when such attempts went in. In addition to offseason training sessions, Stamp said Clark works on such attempts before, during and after practice. Iowa bigs also tend to set higher screens on practices when Clark is on the ball, knowing he’s more likely to pull away from those distances on plays. In that regard, he’s like Curry, Lillard and Ionescu in how their own teams adjust spacing when they’re on the floor.
Iowa coach Lisa Bluder has always been offensive-minded, imploring her teams to play with speed. The setup is perfect for Clark, who likes to push the basketball and make plays before his opponents can set up. Clark has hit more than 50 3s in the first 10 seconds of a possession this season. He took 137 above-the-break 3s last season, shooting 39 percent on such attempts. “Sometimes he gets the best looks right away when we get stuck in the half court,” Stamp said.
In these early shot situations, Clark navigates a balancing act, avoiding forcing shots and instead knowing when to get teammates involved and allow possessions to build. “It’s not an easy science, the shot selection question with him, because we’ve seen him make so many challenging shots on the practice course and in his career,” Stamp said. Iowa is looking at a good effort for all of its players as one that is in rhythm and in range. Clark’s range, of course, is different from his peers, as is his willingness to pull immediately. He’s like Curry in that regard, with the Warriors star averaging 5.2 3-point attempts last season between 15-24 seconds left on the shot clock.
Clark, not surprisingly, is Iowa’s top creator. This season, according to CBB Analytics, his usage rate is in the 100th percentile nationally, trailing only USC freshman star JuJu Watkins. In addition to being an elite shooter, Clark passes with precision. As his college career progressed, he also found new ways to get around. “We’ve been very pleased with the way he’s developed his whole game,” Stamp said.
However, from the perimeter, Clark has shown that he can create his own shot and benefit from kick-outs from his teammates. Last season, he led the nation in unassisted 3-pointers, with 1.8 per game. He leads the nation again this season, ranking in the 98th percentile in assisted 3-pointers as well as making 0.7 more per game. “I would compare him to Steph; obviously, you take it with a grain of salt,” O’Hare said. “With how far he shoots, his release, how good he is with the ball in his hands to create things.” As the data shows, Clark, Lillard and Curry can all convert on both assisted and unassisted opportunities. Ionescu has proven she can shoot from long range in the WNBA, but over the past three seasons, has he made 0.56 unassisted 3s per game.
Clark rarely missed a 3-pointer attempt off the catch. As a freshman at Iowa, he took 116 catch-and-shoot 3s, making 46.6 percent, according to Synergy Sports. Both his catch-and-shoot attempt total and percentage dropped as a sophomore. But throughout his tenure, the Hawkeyes’ coaching staff continued to develop that part of Clark’s 3-point arsenal. “We’ve really worked on trying to come off screens, change speeds, change directions, sprint to the ball, get your feet ready, get yourself ready to catch-and-shoot screens more,” Stamp said. .
In private workouts, that means placing cones to mark the Iowa bigs’ setting screens, and mimicking the many defensive machinations an opposing player might make when trying to slow Clark down. He is on pace to shoot more catch-and-shoot 3s this season than ever in his college career. Unsurprisingly, it’s an area where he’s improved — shooting a better percentage than Lillard in his final season with the Portland Trail Blazers and nearly matching Curry’s output in 2022-23. Clark’s current shooting percentage on catch-and-shoot 3s is also higher than Ionescu’s last season at Oregon, when he shot an impressive 34 percent on such opportunities, according to Synergy Sports.
Few players, if any, have had more of a green light than Clark. With each milestone, he reinforces the fact that he has accomplished more than any other college player. Still, Stamp thinks of another comparison for Clark. He mentioned Megan Gustafson, a former Naismith Player of the Year, who was Iowa’s all-time leading scorer until Clark passed her earlier this season. Gustafson is a 6-foot-3 post player who attempted just two 3s in four years at Iowa, but he and Clark are both “masters of their craft” in Stamp’s eyes.
This past weekend, Clark moved to No. 9 all-time in career scoring in women’s college basketball. If he stays healthy and maintains his current scoring average, he’s on pace to pass former Washington star Kelsey Plum for the No. 1 before the end of the season. Whether Clark decides to enter the WNBA or return for a fifth year at Iowa remains uncertain, but her success has already put her in the conversation with basketball’s elite.
— The AthleticSeth Partnow contributed to this report.
(Illustration and data visual: John Bradford / The Athletic; Stephen Curry photo: Thearon W. Henderson / Getty Images, Caitlin Clark photos: G Fiume / Getty Images and Steph Chambers / Getty Images, Sabrina Ionescu / Mitchell Leff photo)
