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Gophers’ breakout star Mara Braun ready for first game against Big Ten superstar Caitlin Clark

john shipley, pioneer press
·4 min read

When you play as well as Mara Braun has been playing, you attract a lot of attention. On Wednesday, for instance, Kentucky made sure to have a defender facing Braun at all times in an attempt to keep the Gophers freshman from taking over the game.

Braun is going to have to get used to it and adjust.

Likewise, the combo guard from Wayzata is going to have to get used to comparisons with some of the best guards in women’s basketball — such as Iowa junior Caitlin Clark, against whom Braun will get her first head-to-head competition on Saturday in Iowa City.

Tipoff against the 16th-ranked Hawkeyes (7-3, 1-0) is set for 8 p.m.

“It’s exciting,” Braun said. “(Clark) really does mean a lot to women’s college basketball, and that’s really cool.”

It might seem a little unfair to compare a freshman with only eight games under her belt to a junior all-American who leads the nation in scoring. But it’s not crazy, either. Through their team’s first nine college games, Clark averaged eight more points, three more rebounds and three more assists, while Braun is averaging more steals (2.6 to 1.8) and few turnovers (2.5 to 4.7).

The Gophers (5-4, 1-0) have been a tough out early this season despite a starting lineup that averages 19.4 years of age. On a team led by good young players, Braun has been the breakout star.

She leads the team with a 19.8-point scoring average, third in the Big Ten. She beat Lehigh with a last-second 3-pointer, and scored a game-high 34 points, on Nov. 13, and has twice led the Gophers in assists — including a game-high eight in an 80-74 loss to Kentucky while still managing 14 points.

She acknowledges being pleasantly surprised by her early success.

“A lot of different players have stepped up in different situations and it’s good to know I’ve been able to adjust this well, this early,” she said. “We’ve played a lot of good teams and it’s really going to prepare us for later.”

All of Minnesota’s losses this season have been by six or fewer points, against teams with a combined record of 29-7, so the Gophers won’t be unprepared for Clark and the Hawkeyes. In their Big Ten opener, Minnesota edged Makenna Marisa and Penn State in double overtime. Marisa, a senior guard who can score inside and out, finished with a game-high 34 points but Minnesota won, 98-96, largely on the strength of Braun’s three-point play in the final seconds. She scored a team-high 26 points.

Still, the Gophers haven’t yet seen a player quite like Clark, who ranks first nationally in scoring (27.3 ppg) and fifth in assists (7.0).

“We’re going to throw a lot of players at her,” Braun said. “Everyone needs to be prepared to guard her, and whoever is thrown at her, obviously, will have to do a good job.”

Likewise, the Hawkeyes will have to account for Braun. While the Gophers have other scorers who led the team this season — guards Katie Borowicz and Amaya Battle, and forward Mallory Heyer — Braun has displayed the ability, and willingness, to put the team on her back in clutch time.

“She’s ready for those moments because she works extremely hard in practice,” head coach Lindsay Whalen said. “It’s great when you have players that can go and make plays and are fearless and just aren’t afraid of the moment.”

As for comparisons between her precocious freshman and a veteran superstar such as Clark — she has a NLI deal with Nike — Whalen gets it. For her, she said, it was players such as Connecticut’s Sue Bird, Penn State’s Kelly Mazzante and Shereka Wright of Purdue.

“You can’t control the comparisons and thoughts of other people,” the coach said. “Our players have been really good at focusing on the moment and ourselves as a team. But, hey, when you have players doing this well in this league as freshmen, people are going to compare.”

As for Braun, she aims to be a star, or at least to play well enough to become one — “Yeah, everyone wants to be the best they can be,” she said — and gets the comparison to Clark, to some extent. They’re both 6-foot guards who can shoot, put it on the floor and distribute.

“She’s definitely a scorer, but we’re also definitely two different players,” Braun said. “I heard a lot in high school about Paige (Bueckers), and it’s a nice compliment, but at the same time I’m focused on myself and adjusting my game to the college level.”

EARLY RETURNS

Statistics through the first nine college games for Iowa All-American Caitlin Clark and Minnesota freshman Mara Braun*:

CAITLIN CLARK, Iowa, Jr., G
G Pts. RB A STL TO
9 27.5 7.1 6.3 1.8 4.7

MARA BRAUN, Minnesota, Fr., G
G Pts. RB A STL TO
8 19.9 4.2 3.0 2.6 2.5

*Braun has missed one game and part of another because of a foot injury.

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