Iowa women's basketball star Caitlin Clark got real on the team's rough loss to Indiana on Thursday, underscoring the adjustments needed when playing from a deficit. The No. 4 Hawkeyes, facing the No. 14 Hoosiers, fell 86-69 in a match where Clark only managed 24 points, eight below her season's average.

Thee game marked Iowa's largest margin of defeat since the previous season's national championship against LSU.

Clark, known for her scoring, found herself heavily guarded by Indiana, resulting in one of her lowest scoring outputs of the season. The game was her smallest scoring contribution since Dec. 2, during a win against Bowling Green (24 points), and is the second-lowest of the season season. Her lowest scoring game was on Nov. 25, with 21 points against Florida Gulf Coast.

“Being physical, face-guarding me, denying me the ball, threw a lot of different people at me,” Clark said, per Michael Voepel of ESPN. “Kind of pushed me off my spots, got me a little deeper than I wanted to be. Threw a little box-and-one at us.

“Once you get down, you kind of have to start taking some shots that maybe you wouldn't (normally) take necessarily. I thought we maybe could have drove to the basket more. I wouldn't say we're really a team that plays from behind very much. We fought, but they always responded and had an answer.”

Indiana trails Ohio State, Indiana in Big Ten league standings

Indiana's coach Teri Moren praised her team's defensive effort against Clark. The loss puts a dent in Iowa's aspirations for the Big Ten regular-season title, with the team now trailing behind Ohio State and Indiana in the league standings.

“You lose a game like Illinois, and you think, ‘Oh, wow, our backs are against the wall,'” Moren said. “Tonight was a step in the right direction to help secure that (host seed) for our fans.

“We made everything very difficult for Caitlin Clark tonight, and that's hard to do. She's a phenomenal player.”

With three regular-season games remaining, including a crucial matchup on March 3 against Ohio State, Clark and the Hawkeyes are focused on regrouping and finishing strong, aiming for a return to the Big Ten tournament and beyond.

“Every battle is heated when you're playing against the top teams in the Big Ten,” Clark said. “You know, one loss, one win could switch up the standings [in] battling for a regular-season title. That's exactly how it should be.”