Howdy, I’m your host, Houston Mitchell. Let’s get right to the news. From Chuck Schilken : Caitlin Clark had a bit of a rough weekend.
On Sunday, the Indiana Fever rookie scored the fewest points and posted the lowest shooting percentage of both her 11-game WNBA career and her four-year career at Iowa during a blowout loss to the New York Liberty. That came a day after Clark was knocked to the floor by the Chicago Sky’s Chennedy Carter with a hip check away from the ball — a sequence that appeared to draw an enthusiastic response from Sky rookie Angel Reese and later caused some observers to wonder when Clark’s teammates will start sticking up for her. On the bright side, however, the Fever did win that game 71-70 for only their second win of the season.
Clark had 11 points while making 36% of her shots (four for 11) on a night when her team made 39% of its shots while holding Chicago to 41%. Clark also had eight rebounds and six assists. “I thought earlier this season if we would have shot like this, we wouldn’t have won the game because we didn’t have that resiliency and we would have let it affect our defensive play,” Clark told reporters after the game.
“So just proud of us, I thought we were really gritty.” Clark’s weekend has sparked a lot of conversation, including a bizarre rant by Pat McAfee on his ESPN show Monday in which he described Clark using an offensive phrase while trying to defend her and her status in the WNBA. He has since apologiz.