Iowa Hawkeyes guard Caitlin Clark. Jim Dedmon-USA TODAY Sports

Caitlin Clark's dominant performance pushes Iowa to win over Virginia Tech

New season, same Caitlin Clark.

The Iowa guard reminded everyone why she's the most exciting player in college basketball with a sensational performance against No. 8 Virginia Tech in an 80-76 win.

Clark finished with 44 points with five made threes, eight rebounds and six assists, showing off her full offensive game. She connected on a deep three and went behind the back on an excellent drive for a layup in the third quarter. During the fourth, Clark expertly set up a screen that got her wide open for another hit from beyond the arc.

As ESPN's Alexa Philippou noted, her latest scoring opus gave her 38 career 30-point games and nine career 40-point games. Both are tied with former Washington guard Kelsey Plum for most in Division I over the last 25 seasons. 

The 2022-23 AP Player of the Year is well on her way to a second piece of hardware. She scored 28 points on 64.7 percent shooting and had 10 assists in Iowa's season opener. 

A year after helping set viewership records, Clark is wasting no time drawing a crowd this year. She's as good now as when we last saw her, which is bad news for everyone else.

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