DALLAS — Iowa Hawkeye basketball star Caitlin Clark has won another top college basketball award: the 2023 Naismith Trophy.
The Naismith Player of the Year award honors the two most outstanding players in college basketball — one man and one woman.
“Winning this award is a huge accomplishment,” Clark said. “This is such a huge honor for our family and program. None of this would be possible without my tremendous support system. I was to thank Lisa Bluder and her staff for giving me the opportunity to play basketball at the University of Iowa. It is a place I have thrived in since I stepped on campus.”
Looking over to the teammates she's led to the Final Four, she added, "The most important thing to me is to be at the Final Four competing with my team. And I know this award isn't possible without every single one of you... and I truly mean that. It's just as much yours as it is mine."
Clark leads the nation in offense with 27.3 points, 7.3 rebounds and 8.6 assists per game — accounting for 57% of Iowa's total offensive output.
She's registered 25 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists in 18 games this season, the most in Division 1, and 40 times in her career — the most in NCAA women's basketball history.
She joins Megan Gustafson and Luka Garza as the third Hawkeye to win the trophy since 2019. Iowa is just one of six schools to have its players win both a men's and women's trophy.
Clark, a national star and top-ranked player, was up against Villanova's Maddy Siegrist — the Big East Player of the Year and fifth D1 player to score 1,000 points in a season — and Virginia Tech's Elizabeth Kitley, two-time ACC Player of the Year and her program's all-time leading scorer.
She was also nominated alongside South Carolina's Aliyah Boston, the two-time SEC Player of the Year and only player ranked in the top five on both offense and defense who won the Naismith trophy in 2022. Clark and Boston will face off Friday night in Dallas in the Final Four.
Fans got the opportunity to contribute to the award with a week-long fan vote that would account for 5% of the overall vote total.
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