Iowa dental student shows appreciation of basketball phenom Caitlin Clark

Basketball star inspires unique tribute made of Rubik’s Cube tiles

Brian Dang, a fourth-year student at the University of Iowa College of Dentistry and Dental Clinics, is a huge women’s basketball fan.

Thank Caitlin Clark for that.

“I never really paid attention to women’s basketball prior to Caitlin Clark,” said Mr. Dang. “I have been in Iowa City for eight years because I went to engineering school here, and it is crazy how Caitlin Clark has made me a fan of women’s basketball ever since she made a huge impact to the game. So, she has definitely made me a bigger fan.”

Ms. Clark is the NCAA Division I all-time leading scorer and arguably one of the greatest players in college basketball history. She has led her University of Iowa team, not to mention all of women’s basketball, to unprecedented heights and attention in her collegiate career, which wrapped up in April after a loss in the NCAA women’s championship game.

Mr. Dang has made his fandom apparent with a unique approach to artwork using Rubik’s Cube panels to create mosaics of people and objects.

“I got into Rubik’s Cubes in high school, and I loved the challenge of it,” he said. “I decided to make artwork out of it, and I wanted to make Caitlin Clark because how much she has impacted our community here in Iowa City,” he said.

It took him about 720 Rubik’s tiles and 10 hours to create his 16-square foot artwork on Ms. Clark.

He hopes his artwork doesn’t lay forgotten in the closet as he embarks on a general dentistry career in Iowa after graduation

“I want to have Caitlin Clark sign it, and I want to create a more memorable picture on the other side of the artwork since the other side is unsolved,” Mr. Dang said. “After that, I want to see if [Iowa’s Carver-Hawkeye Arena] would hang it up to show how much this women’s basketball team has not only made a big difference in the game of basketball but this community.”