MINNEAPOLIS – Caitlin Clark sets multiple records every game it seems like and she is now in her fourth straight Big Ten Tournament final. She’ll get a chance at revenge against Jaz Shelley and Nebraska, who beat the Hawkeyes earlier this year. Should be a banger of a game.
FINAL SCORES
No. 5 Nebraska 78 - No. 8 Maryland 68
No. 2 Iowa 95 - No. 6 Michigan 68
TOP PLAYERS
Maryland Terrapins
Faith Masonius: 14 points (5-of-11 FG, 0-of-1 3P), nine rebounds (five offensive), five assists, one steal, -10
Shyanne Sellers: 15 points (6-of-14 FG, 1-of-1 3P), six rebounds, seven assists, one block, -9
Bri Alexander: 10 points (4-of-6 FG, 2-of-3 3P), three rebounds, one assist, even
Nebraska Cornhuskers
Jaz Shelley: 30 points (10-of-16 FG, 6-of-12 3P), four rebounds (one offensive), nine assists, two steals, +10
Alexis Markowski: nine points (3-of-10 FG), 13 rebounds (five offensive), +21 (fouled out)
Callin Hake: seven points (2-of-5 FG, 1-of-2 3P), five rebounds (two offensive), two assists, one steal, +5
Iowa Hawkeyes
Caitlin Clark: 28 points (10-of-19 FG, 4-of-11 3P), four rebounds, 15 assists, two steals, +26
Sydney Affolter: 12 points (5-of-6 FG, 2-of-3 3P), seven rebounds (one offensive), eight assists, two steals, +35
Hannah Stuelke: 16 points (7-of-7 FG), three rebounds, +13
Michigan Wolverines
Laila Phelia: 21 points (8-of-16 FG, 2-of-4 3P), three rebounds (one offensive), seven assists, -22
Lauren Hansen: 13 points (4-of-10 FG, 3-of-7 3P), three rebounds (one offensive), five assists, two steals, -18
Jordan Hobbs: 14 points (4-of-10 FG, 3-of-6 3P), four rebounds, -36
FUN FACTS
The Terps had five players in double-figures.
Bri McDaniel (406) became the third Terp to score more than 400 points this season, joining Shyanne Sellers (479) and Jakia Brown-Turner (427).
Jaz Shelley’s 30 points was a season-high.
The Huskers have won three games in three days and are in the BTT final for the first time since 2014 and third time overall.
Michigan made their first seven three-point attempts.
Iowa set a BTT single-game record with 30 assists.
Caitlin Clark (293 and counting) is now the BTT all-time leading scorer.
Clark (282) set the Iowa single-season record for assists.
Clark also set the Big Ten record for career free throws (778 and counting) made.
Iowa is in the BTT final for the fourth consecutive season.
If Iowa wins on Sunday, they’ll have won three-straight Big Ten Tournament titles.
The Hawkeyes are 4-0 against the Wolverines all-time in the Big Ten Tournament.
POSTGAME QUOTES MARYLAND
Head coach Brenda Frese’s opening statement: “We're obviously disappointed to not be playing tomorrow with the success that we've had in this tournament the last ten years.
Proud of this group for how they've come into this tournament with their dog mentality. We really felt like if we kind of kept their big three at bay, that we had a great shot. But you had the Jaz-fest with Jaz, who came out knocking down those threes, 30 points. The other two I thought we were able to control, but I thought she was the difference in that first half and the eight threes that they made.
Love how we played the last three days. We fought, and we battled both ends of the floor. We have a locker room full of a lot of competitors that have fought and stuck through a lot of adversity this season. You see that they're built for March, and we're ready to take on the next tournament.”Faith Masonius on what “dog mentality” means to her: “ I think for us the dog mentality is all about not letting any other team beat you except yourself. Sometimes that's all Coach B would say to us this whole tournament is nobody can beat us except ourselves.
It's really about just coming in and being resilient, going hard, don't let anyone in front of you stop you, leaving it all on the floor. And I think heading into March, March Madness, it's just going to lead us the whole way through.
I'm very confident in this team, and I'm very excited to see what we can do with that dog mentality. I think we really took it to heart.”
POSTGAME QUOTES NEBRASKA
Head coach Amy Williams’ opening statement: “Just so incredibly proud of this group. Really excited to continue to advance with them and to be playing in the championship game tomorrow.
I know it's been well documented it's been since 2014 since Nebraska's been back into the championship game of the Big Ten tournament. We're excited, and I couldn't be more pleased that this is the group that's taking us there.
What an incredible performance from our entire team. We thought this whole tournament we've had people step up and make huge plays for us, but Jaz was really special today. It was just fun to sit and watch that.”Jaz Shelley on how she countered Maryland’s counter in the fourth quarter: “Yeah, I think they were pressuring me a lot, and I started to get my assist game up. I had a lot of attention towards me, and it made other people open. I wasn't on my heat check anymore, kind of slowed that down and tried to work through the offense a little bit better.”
Alexis Markowski on Jaz Shelley’s first half performance: “Unreal. Honestly I was speechless. It was after her third three, and I was just like, you're kidding me.
Jaz is just such a special player, and she's just been one of my favorite players I've ever played with. She's just unreal and does everything for this team.”
Callin Hake on the same topic: “I think it just is a testament to Jaz's work ethic. She's the first in the gym and the last to leave. The sky is the limit for her, and it's fun to just watch her succeed in this fifth year.”
Williams on what else Shelley brings to the team besides scoring: “I've been saying this for a while, but Jaz Shelley, she is a very capable scorer, but she just does so much more for our team. She's probably our best perimeter defender. We utilize her to guard the other team's best players.
A lot of teams will take their best offensive threat and make sure that they're not going to get into foul trouble or put them on players that they know they can maybe rest on one side of the ball, but we don't allow Jaz to do that. We're asking her to do so much for our team.”
POSTGAME QUOTES IOWA
Head coach Lisa Bluder on what she liked about the Hawkeyes game: “Happy with the way that we took care of the boards. We valued the ball: 30 assists, set a Big Ten record for that. Caitlin has 15 on her own. I thought Syd, again, just was outstanding. She has the highest plus-minus of anybody. Eight assists and seven rebounds for Syd. She's doing a great job for us, playing so strong, so physically.
Man, I just thought we had some beautiful passing in the second half, just sharing the ball. It's so much fun when we play like that and when everybody is getting involved like that.”Caitlin Clark on making the BTT finals every year of her career: “It's special. I was walking back to the locker room with Gabbie and Jada. I don't know how to do this tournament any other way. I pack for three days, pack for four days. That's just what we do.
I think it's honestly been to my advantage that we've made it my freshman year and my sophomore and junior year, that's all we know. That's just what we do.
I feel like we always play great basketball when we're coming here. Obviously when it moved to Minneapolis last year, our fans have really showed out and supported us on a whole different level rather than when it was in Indianapolis, a little bit harder location to get to.
It's not easy. These tournaments are really, really tough. As you've seen, we were the only higher team to win yesterday's game. That's what makes it so fun. It also shows how good our conference is and how good it's been all year. It's never anything you take for granted. Obviously we're going to try to make it three in a row tomorrow.”Clark on playing Nebraska and Jaz Shelley: “To be honest, we haven't even started our scout obviously. We just finished this game. We've played them twice this year. We know how good they are. They got us at their place.
Jaz in my eyes is one of the best players in the country. She's got range. She can shoot the ball. I know Nebraska shot the ball really well tonight.”Bluder on Clark’s success in the BTT: “With Caitlin, it's like the bigger the spotlight, the more she's going to show up. She just loves high-energy games, fans that are amazing. Can we just talk a second about the Iowa Hawkeye fans? It is amazing what they are doing for our team. We absolutely love them. We are so thankful for them.
But the bigger the show, the bigger she plays, there's no doubt.”
POSTGAME QUOTES MICHIGAN
Head coach Kim Barnes Arico’s opening statement:.”Iowa is a great team, and I thought we came out in the first quarter and were exceptional and were able to match their pace of play.
We weren't able to score with them later in the game, and they were able to pull away from us. But I think our team did a phenomenal job all week and potentially ran out of gas a little bit against a tremendous Iowa team.
So credit to them, and it should be a great championship tomorrow.”Jordan Hobbs on how the offense was working in the first quarter: “I think getting some paint touches early, and we were just sharing the ball a little bit better than we did in the second half. We kind of just went one pass and shot in the second half, and that didn't work out for us very well.
So I think definitely moving the ball and getting those paint touches and getting the defense to sink in.”Barnes Arico on the environment at the Target Center: “So you try to prepare for those environments in practice. We try to put fan noise in the background. You try to prepare as much as you can. But I think when you get in them, it's a little bit different.
I think that type of pressure led to our quick shots sometimes. When they were making their run and the place was going crazy, we got the ball back and wanted to make a fast play and wanted to match that, and then if we missed it, it was a quick shot and their transition down the other way. That's why they're so dangerous because they can push that pace.
But what an environment for women's basketball, what an environment for the Big Ten. The game has grown so much even over the last five years that there are going to be Caitlin Clark type players continuing to come up. You see a similar one potentially in JuJu Watkins, who's going to be in the Big Ten next year.”
SUNDAY FINAL SCHEDULE (game on CBS)
No. 5 Nebraska Cornhuskers vs. No. 2 Iowa Hawkeyes; 11:00 a.m. CT