Caitlin Clark, Monika Czinano, Kris Murray named to Wooden Award late season top 20
The Los Angeles Athletic Club named the trio of Hawkeyes to the top-20 list on Monday.
Iowa guard Caitlin Clark passes the ball to forward Monika Czinano during a women’s basketball game between Iowa and Dartmouth at Carver-Hawkeyes Arena in Iowa City on Wednesday, Dec 21, 2022. The Hawkeyes defeated the Big Green 92-54.
January 30, 2023
A trio of Hawkeyes were named to the Wooden Award late season top 20 on Monday, the Los Angeles Athletic Club announced.
The Wooden Award is presented annually to both the top men’s and women’s basketball player in the country.
Junior guard Caitlin Clark, who is averaging 27.1 points, 7.9 rebounds, and 7.9 assists per game, has also been tabbed the Preseason Big Ten Player of the Year and preseason unanimous All-American.
On Jan. 23, Clark became the first player since Dwyane Wade in the 1999-2000 season to record a triple-double against an AP top-2 team — she recorded 28 points, 10 rebounds, and 15 assists against No. 2 Ohio State.
The 2022 Big Ten Player of the Year also has a conference-record eight triple-doubles on her career. She is currently on a five-game double-double streak.
Clark was also named to the Nancy Lieberman Award midseason watch list on Monday. The Lieberman Award is given to the top point guard in women’s basketball, and Clark won it last season.
Fifth-year senior Monika Czinano is also on the Wooden Award late season top 20 list.
Czinano is averaging 18.1 points per game this season and ranks third in the country with a 66.3 field goal percentage. Czinano was a Lisa Leslie Award semifinalist last season, which is given to the top center in collegiate women’s basketball.
Iowa women’s basketball is one of three schools to have multiple players on the list — South Carolina’s Aliyah Boston and Zia Cooke and Stanford’s Cameron Brink and Haley Jones are on the list.
Four of the Hawkeyes final eight games will come against top-10 teams — Iowa will play both No. 8 Maryland and No. 4 Indiana twice before the end of the regular season.
The Hawkeyes, who are 17-4 overall and a Big Ten-leading 9-1 in conference, moved up to No. 6 in the AP poll on Monday afternoon. Iowa will take on No. 8 Maryland at Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. The game will be aired nationally on ESPN.
On the men’s basketball side, junior Kris Murray was also named to the Wooden Award late season top 20.
The men’s basketball program has had four players named to the late season top 20 in the last four seasons. Forward Keegan Murray was a finalist for the Wooden Award in 2022, center Luka Garza won the honor in 2021 and was a finalist in 2020.
The 6-foot-8 forward is averaging 20.8 points and 8.6 rebounds per game this season, starting every game he’s participated in.
Murray has scored over 30 points four times this season — one of just 11 players in the nation to do so. He’s led the Hawkeyes to a 13-8 overall and 5-5 conference record this season.
The Iowa men’s basketball team will return to Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Tuesday to take on Northwestern. The game was rescheduled from Jan. 18 because of COVID-19 health and safety protocols within the Wildcat men’s basketball program.
The game will also serve as Chris Street Remembrance Day, recognizing the former Iowa men’s basketball player who died in a car crash on Jan. 19, 1993. The Jan. 31 game is 30 years to the day the Iowa men’s basketball team played its first game after Street died.