IOWA Hawkeyes’ Caitlin Clark has admitted a physical Indiana Hoosiers team threw her and the Hawkeyes off their game in Thursday’s big loss.

The 86-69 loss has left Iowa’s hopes of winning the Big Ten regular-season title looking even more remote.

Caitlin Clark shows her disappointment on Thursday nightCredit: Getty

Sharpshooter Clark, who last week broke Kelsey Plum’s all-time women’s NCAA scoring mark, was 8-of-26 from the field overall and 3-of-16 from 3-point range.

She praised Indiana’s defense after the game.

“Being physical, face-guarding me, denying me the ball, threw a lot of different people at me,” Clark said.

“Kind of pushed me off my spots, got me a little deeper than I wanted to be. Threw a little box-and-one at us.

“Once you get down, you kind of have to start taking some shots that maybe you wouldn’t [normally] take necessarily.

“I thought we maybe could have drove to the basket more.

“I wouldn’t say we’re really a team that plays from behind very much.

“We fought, but they always responded and had an answer.

“You know, one loss, one win could switch up the standings in battling for a regular-season title. That’s exactly how it should be.”

Iowa only have three regular-season games left and are now 12-3 in the league, behind Ohio State (14-1) and Indiana (13-3).

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Indiana coach Teri Moren knew how important this win was, strengthening their hopes of being among the NCAA tournament’s top 16 seeds.

“You lose a game like Illinois, and you think, ‘Oh, wow, our backs are against the wall,'” Moren said.

“Tonight was a step in the right direction to help secure that [host seed] for our fans.

“We made everything very difficult for Caitlin Clark tonight, and that’s hard to do. She’s a phenomenal player.”