Last season, the Iowa women's basketball team made it all the way to the national championship game, and a big reason for that was the play of Caitlin Clark. The Hawkeyes ended up losing that game against LSU, but Clark returned to the team this season, and they once again have their eyes on the prize. With Clark back this season, expectations for the team are through the roof. The Hawkeyes came into the season ranked #3 in the AP Poll, and they already picked up a win against #8 Virginia Tech, which bumped them up to #2. However, Iowa suffered a major upset loss at home on Thursday night.

Kansas State women's basketball came into their matchup with Iowa women's basketball as massive underdogs, but the Wildcats found a way to come out on top. They did a terrific job of slowing down the Hawkeyes on offense, and they left Iowa City with a 65-58 win.

Caitlin Clark had one of the worst performances of her Iowa career as she finished 9/32 from the field and 2/16 from deep. She finished with 24 points, and she thinks that there is a lot to learn from the loss.

“It's certainly one we can learn from and probably taught us a lot of lessons of how we can get better,” Clark said after the game, according to an article from ESPN. 

When Clark is on, this Iowa women's basketball team is almost impossible to beat. However, everyone has off nights, even Caitlin Clark. She knows that she has to create chances for her teammates when things aren't working out for her.

“We need more people to be able to contribute, and that's on me to get them involved in the game,” Clark continued. “Especially on nights where I might not shoot the ball as great. Rely on my teammates, get them open, get them a clean look.”

This game showed what makes college basketball so fun. Anyone can go down on any given night, and Clark knows that her and her Iowa teammates need to be ready for that every time they step on the court.

“I think it shows you've got to come in every single day and be ready to play basketball because no matter who it is, you can beat anybody, you can lose [to] anybody,” Clark said. “That's a great thing about women's basketball. That's what makes it so fun. I'm just disappointed we didn't really put on a great performance for our fans who came out and supported us really well.”

When one team gets momentum, it can be hard to slow them down. That's what Clark noticed in this game. Iowa got off to a slow start, and it was hard to come back from that.

“I felt it started off kind of rough for us and we were never really able to get our feet back under us and regain full control of the game,” Clark said. “We're still getting used to playing with one another, but at the same time, those aren't mistakes we usually make on a day-to-day basis. So just come back to practice and get better and get on the same page. All you can do is respond.”

Iowa will get a chance to rebound from this loss on Sunday when they will be back at home against Drake. That will be a good opportunity for the Hawkeyes to reset and get back to playing good basketball.