The Caitlin Clark craze has been special in college basketball this season. Clark and Iowa women’s basketball have had sellout road games at other schools across the country. That’s what College Park experienced this weekend.
There were dozens of cars turning into park over two hours before Maryland women’s basketball’s game against Iowa started Saturday night. The line stretched all the way down to the sidewalk when getting around to the front of the Xfinity Center, an unusual site not found at Maryland men’s basketball games. Even tailgates were going on in the parking lot.
The Hawkeyes’ fans traveled well, making up at least 40 percent of the crowd. They rivaled Penn State and Michigan’s fan’s at Maryland football games this season.
Last year’s Maryland-Iowa game drew 10,671 fans. While that matchup tipped off at 8 p.m. just like this year’s, a Tuesday night meeting may have hampered some attendance. Saturday was a different story. Xfinity Center had its first sellout for a women’s basketball game since 2016 as fans were eager to see both squads — despite the Terps’ down season.
“Maryland [is] 12-10 but they’re so much better than that,” Clark said. “They’re so good.”
Maryland is a premiere school for female athletics with the success of the basketball, field hockey and lacrosse programs. Yet it took a superstar’s visit to give Xfinity Center the same buzz for a women’s basketball game that can be found on the men’s side.
According to the NCAA’s attendance rankings, Iowa leads all schools in terms of accumulative attendance, selling out Carver-Hawkeye Arena for every game — an arena that houses nearly 15,000 fans. Maryland ranks 11th in average attendance, averaging just 6,726 fans that fill up approximately 37 percent of the Xfinity Center.
Saturday was a great display of women’s sports with a sold-out crowd that was energized and loud for the entire two hours. Clark was the first player on the court for the Hawkeyes and everyone was in awe as the big Iowa contingent gave a loud cheer.
Clark has allowed fans to gain an appreciation for women’s sports, wowing fans with her deep three’s and insane court vision. Clark is a dazzling talent and displayed that against Maryland, scoring 38 points and dishing out 12 assists. But more players deserve coverage than just the elite superstars that get recognized on several social media accounts — teams are made up of 14 different players.
The Fox College Basketball X (formerly known as Twitter) account posted over 30 videos from the Maryland-Iowa game. Many videos advertised Fox’s Clark camera on TikTok, which followed the superstar all game. Out of their 30-plus videos only three focused on Maryland.
Even two clips of Hawkeyes coach Lisa Bluder mic’d up were posted by Fox Sports. There were zero clips of Terps coach Brenda Frese.
On the court, the Terps played up to the competition, using a 23-3 run in the third quarter to tie and take the lead. They didn’t bow down to the superstar Clark, creating a thrilling high intensity atmosphere for a nationally televised game. The Maryland fans made life unpleasant for Clark, making noise whenever she dribbled the ball up the court or missed a shot.
“There’s a lot to do in Maryland,” guard Shyanne Sellers said. “… I appreciate them coming out but also if they decide to be a town and want to come together they can make any atmosphere electric.”
The “Caitlin Clark effect” is a temporary thing that brings a spike of media and coverage to schools that don’t need to be having spectacular seasons. Clark has changed how the media approaches women’s sports, but there may not be a super fix with other elite female athletes once Clark enters the WNBA. Attendance may dip back to its normal levels.
“The crowd was absolutely awesome tonight,” Frese said. “We loved it and we hope everyone continues to keep coming back and supporting this team.”
Frese will see if the attendance remains close to what it was against Iowa when Maryland next hosts Penn State Feb. 18.
