Iowa Coach Readies Team for Moment vs Caitlin Clark's 'Heir Apparent' JuJu Watkins

February 2 is going to be a special day for Iowa Hawkeyes women's basketball fans.

This is because this day marks when Caitlin Clark is getting her No. 22 jersey at Iowa retired.

When speaking about this momentous occasion with David Eickholt in a January 25 interview, Clark said "I think it's probably hard to really feel all the emotions until I'm going to be inside Carver, and really see it, and experience it with my family.

"I'm not usually a very emotional person, but I feel like this will probably make me a little more emotional," she added.

What does @CaitlinClark22 think about her jersey getting retired? She tells @247Sports in the latest #Swarmcast.

"Now that I'm not actually playing, I feel like I'll be more emotional even though I'm not a super emotional person. I'm very grateful..."

Full Episode out Monday: pic.twitter.com/a0fjhBmVGj
— David Eickholt (@DavidEickholt) January 25, 2025

This jersey retirement will occur after the Iowa Hawkeyes take on the USC Trojans in what's sure to be an extremely compelling game. Therefore, Clark will get to watch the Iowa vs. USC game before her ceremony.

USC sophomore star JuJu Watkins is often compared to Clark, if only because she was once on pace to break her NCAA all-time scoring record.

When speaking with the media on January 28, Iowa head coach Jan Jensen discussed how she's preparing for Sunday's game and ceremony, and offered some high praise for Watkins.

"That was a little bit sometimes my concern... because you knew a lot of hype was about Caitlin's jersey, and obviously USC is coming in," Jensen said, per an X post from Hawkfanatic.com's Dallas Jones.

"It's a lot. I mean, storyline after storyline, right? It's Caitlin, and then you have arguably, inarguably, the heir apparent [with] JuJu, she's probably gonna want to have a game in front of Caitlin.

"But what I've just told [my team] is 'What a moment. You get to be in this moment, we get to celebrate one of the greatest Hawks ever," Jensen added. "But once the game goes up, all the pregame stories, then it just becomes us and them. And then after the game, we can take a moment, whatever happens, and we can really celebrate one of the greatest to ever do it.

"I've just tried to really keep them in their lane, and I think they understand that. They know the task is tall on Sunday, but it's also a really fun opportunity. And I like what I've seen so far. But it has been a lot of different things coming at them, just all the hype because so many people are excited about Caitlin," she continued.

Jan Jensen on how she’s preparing her team for Sunday matchup against Juju Watkins and USC, as well as the retirement of Caitlin Clark’s jersey: pic.twitter.com/UR15KIG29J
— Dallas Jones (@DallasJonesy) January 29, 2025

Sunday is certainly going to be a spectacle for several reasons.