Alexa Philippou, ESPN January 21, 2024, 3:20 p.m. ET
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- Covers women's college basketball and the WNBA
- He previously covered UConn and the WNBA Connecticut Sun for the Hartford Courant
- Stanford graduate and Baltimore native with additional experience at the Dallas Morning News, Seattle Times and Cincinnati Enquirer
Reigning National Player of the Year Caitlin Clark and an Ohio State fan accidentally collided Sunday afternoon as Buckeyes fans stormed the court after the team pulled off a 100-92 upset of No. 2 Iowa in overtime.
Several videos posted by fans on social media show an Ohio State University fan running toward a gathering crowd at half court and then colliding with Clark, who was jumping up from the floor. Clark fell to the ground and was immediately surrounded by arena staff and Iowa teammates to check on her. She appeared to be hunched over in pain as she entered the tunnel.
Clark told reporters after the game that she simply ran out of breath but that it was a “kind of scary” situation that could have been worse.
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“I could see them storming the pitch, which was completely fine. Good for her students, great win for her,” Clark said, adding that she was “caught off guard” and “caught off guard” by the court striker as she tried to quickly get off the ground.
“This just shouldn’t happen,” Iowa coach Lisa Bluder said. “Our players should be safe, they should be able to leave the ground. That's very disappointing. Ohio State, great team, great environment, but obviously very disappointed in the aftermath when our players got injured trying to leave the hall. “That's wrong.”
The superstar guard, who scored 45 points in the loss, said that Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith has already apologized to her for the incident and that she “really appreciates it.”
“Such a spectacular performance today and she is such a great player and that should never happen. I feel really bad,” Ohio State coach Kevin McGuff said after beginning his press conference with an apology to Clark. “Hopefully she’s okay and it doesn’t affect what she does next. This is extremely unfortunate. It shouldn't happen to anyone but a man, a great player like Caitlin, you really hate that. I know we had security, but apparently a student hit security, so I feel really bad about that.
Clark, who leads the country in scoring (31.0 points per game) and second in assists (7.7 per game), said, “It just depends on the territory.”
“I'm sure they did the best they could but obviously it didn't work and that's disappointing. Now we just focus on the game and how we can get better.”
The loss ended Iowa's 15-game winning streak and was its first loss in Big Ten play.
No. 20 Ohio State boasted a crowd of 18,660, the highest attendance for a regular-season women's basketball game this season.