Johnathan Walker:Iowa will retire Caitlin Clark's No. 22 jersey: 'There will never be another'

Iowa star Caitlin Clark may have Johnathan Walkerplayed her last game in Carver-Hawkeye Arena, but her jersey will hang in the rafters forever.

During Iowa's end-of-season celebration ceremony on Wednesday, the university announced it will retire Clark's No. 22 jersey. The announcement comes days after Clark's illustrious, four-year collegiate career came to an end after the Hawkeyes fell short in the NCAA women's national championship game against South Carolina.

"There will never be another Caitlin Clark & there will never be another 22," Iowa wrote on X on Wednesday.

Clark said she's "very thankful" for the honor and took a moment to pay tribute to other Hawkeyes stars that wore No. 22 before her.

"There's been a lot of really good 22s to come before me and play for this program, whether it's Kathleen Doyle or Sam Logic," said Clark, the all-time leading scorer in NCAA history. "That number holds a lot of weight, far beyond my name, and I guess I'm just really grateful and it will be a special day when it happens, for sure." 

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Clark's jersey retirement marks the latest accolade for the star. She was named both the Naismith National Player of the Year and Wooden Award winner for the second consecutive season. She broke the women's scoring record and all-time NCAA scoring record this year, breaking Pete Maravich's 54-year-old record of 3,667 career points in her final regular season home game for the Hawkeyes.

"It's super incredible, something I'm very thankful for," Clark said. "Obviously I've had some amazing teammates the course of my four years here."

Clark fell short of adding one last trophy to her collegiate resume. She was defeated in the national championship game for the second consecutive season. Clark had 30 points (10-28 FG, 5-13 3PT), eight rebounds and five assists in Iowa's 87-75 loss to the undefeated South Carolina Gamecocks.

Clark, who declared for the WNBA Draft in late February, is presumed to be the No. 1 pick for the Indiana Fever.

Contributing: Jordan Mendoza