By John Bohnenkamp

Associated Press

IOWA CITY, Iowa — Iowa’s Kylie Feuerbach will always consider Caitlin Clark a teammate, whether the top overall pick in the WNBA draft is going to concerts or hanging out with Taylor Swift at an NFL game.

And that’s why Feuerbach always gets a good laugh wherever Clark shows up in the media.

“We talk about this all the time, but it’s crazy, because you don’t really realize it until you start seeing all the Instagram posts or news (headlines), whatever it is, because obviously we know her as a friend and a teammate,” Feuerbach, a senior guard for the Hawkeyes, said Friday. “So seeing her at that level, it’s kind of just out of this world, but it’s crazy. It’s awesome to see all the publicity she gets. Obviously, she deserves it, and she’s worked really hard to where she’s at now.”

Clark is returning to the place where she became all-time leading men’s or women’s scorer in NCAA Division I history and led the Hawkeyes to appearances in the NCAA national championship game the last two seasons while winning the national player of the year award twice. On Sunday, Clark will have her jersey number 22 retired in a ceremony at Carver-Hawkeye Arena after Iowa’s game against No. 4 USC.

For the Hawkeyes, the first season without Clark has been “unique,” coach Jan Jensen said. The Hawkeyes are 14-7 overall and 4-6 in the Big Ten in Jensen’s first season as head coach. Iowa opened the season 12-2 and were in The Associated Press Top 25 before a five-game losing streak knocked them out of the rankings and put their NCAA Tournament hopes in jeopardy.

It’s been a struggle at times for Jensen, an assistant coach since 2000 who took over the team in May when Lisa Bluder retired.

“This whole year has been unique,” Jensen said, noting the loss of key players like Clark, Kate Martin, Gabbie Marshall, Sharon Goodman and Molly Davis from last season’s team that lost to South Carolina in the national title game, as well as the departures of Bluder and longtime assistant coach Jenni Fitzgerald. “There’s been a lot of firsts, and a lot of different situations that we’ve been navigating.”

Sunday’s game is a sellout — Iowa sold out its public season tickets for the second consecutive year, even without Clark coming back. But, the increased attention on the game is something many of the Hawkeyes are used to, having gone through the last couple of seasons with all of the media focus on Clark.

“We play out in front of a sold-out crowd almost every home game, and it’s no different,” guard Sydney Affolter said. “We just say, ‘Focus on the game.’ There’s going to be a lot of outside noise and a lot of things going on, which is really great and cool, but obviously we want to use that to our advantage, and use the crowd and everything that we can to beat USC, and that’s going to be our main focus.”

The Hawkeyes have won back-to-back games. They close the regular season with a schedule that includes home games against USC and top-ranked UCLA, and a road game against No. 8 Ohio State.

“We’ve had the same mentality every single day, which I think is what strengthened us,” Feuerbach said. “We’ve really, really stayed together, trusted in our work, and we knew that, like Coach J would say, the shore was near.”

Clark attended one other game this season, on Nov. 17 in Des Moines, when the Hawkeyes defeated Drake 86-73. She kept a low profile that game.

“I didn’t even know she was there until after,” Feuerbach said, laughing.

But if Clark is courtside on Sunday, her former teammates expect to hear from her — like in her playing days.

“Wherever Caitlin’s at, she brings the energy,” Feuerbach said. “She lights up a room with her energy, vocal communication, whatever it may be.”

Clark’s rise from a highly-touted high school recruit to being an “A-lister,” as Jensen called her, has been fun to watch.

“I’m just forever blessed that I got to be part of her ride,” Jensen said. “She’ll always be part of us. Just like I’ve said before — Michael Jordan will forever be Carolina blue, Caitlin will forever be Hawkeye black and gold.”