Iowa Senior Details Tough Adjustment Without Caitlin Clark on Court

An Iowa Hawkeyes player got honest about the struggles that not having Caitlin Clark as a teammate creates.

Iowa's Sydney Affolter (3) and Caitlin Clark (22) react after defeating Illinois Saturday, Feb. 24, 2024 at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. | Julia Hansen/Iowa City Press-Citizen / USA TODAY NETWORK

The Iowa Hawkeyes women's basketball team hasn't missed too much of a step from their past squads that were led by superstar Caitlin Clark.

While the Hawkeyes did suffer the first defeat of their 2024-25 season against Tennessee at the Women's Champions Classic on December 7, they're still 8-1 on the season and are ranked No. 21 in the country.

However, the fact that Iowa is averaging 76.7 points per game this season compared to the 91 points per game they averaged in 2023-24 makes it clear that — as anyone would expect — not having Clark has been detrimental to their offensive success.

And Iowa senior Sydney Affolter spoke out about this to the media earlier this week.

"The [opposing] defense obviously was very spread out last year, a little bit more," Affolter said, per the Hawk Central YouTube channel. "I mean, people were guarding Caitlin all the way at the logo. But just her passes, you would find yourself open at times you wouldn't think you'd be open. And I think I'm definitely still figuring that out. I'll be on the perimeter, think I'm open for a shot... and last year I would have that shot right away.

"Just playing with Caitlin, nobody passes like she does," Affolter continued. "So it's definitely an adjustment."

once you play with a generational playmaker like caitlin it really does ruin you 😭😭😭 pic.twitter.com/O9rBheXtcF

— correlation (@nosyone4) December 11, 2024

It's easy to imagine how tough of an adjustment it would be to play without arguably the world's best female passer on your roster any longer.

Although now the Indiana Fever get to benefit from that.