The No. 2 Iowa Hawkeyes and Cailtlin Clark were stunned by No. 18 Ohio State on Sunday afternoon in a 100-92 loss, but the biggest moment for Clark might have been what happened after the game.
After the Buckeyes' statement win, fans stormed the court, and one fan, who was seen filming the moment, collided with the Hawkeye superstar.
"These are the games you love to play in," Clark told reporters after the game. "You know, obviously, I can see they're storming the court, which is totally fine, and I mean good for their students.
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Great win for them. And I was just trying to exit the court as quickly as possible. So I started running, and I was absolutely just hammered by somebody trying to run onto the court and basically blindsided."
This could have been a season-changing moment for the Hawkeyes had Clark been seriously injured. But, after the game, Clark said she just got the wind knocked out of her during the collision.
"Kinda scary. It could have caused a pretty serious injury for me," Clark told reports after the game. "It knocked the wind out of me. Luckily, my teammates picked me up and helped me off the court. [Ohio State's] [athletic director] already came and apologized to me, so I really appreciate that.
Big Ten
This is what comes with the territory. I'm sure they tried their best to do whatever they could. Obviously, it didn't work, and that's disappointing."
Head coach Lisa Bluder expressed her disgust with the situation after the game.
"You know, it's unfortunate the game ended that way," Bluder said after the game. "Caitlin gets taken out on the floor and gets some inappropriate words yelled at her by fans and students. Our players should be safe. They should be able to walk off the floor. That's that's very disappointing. I think Ohio State, great team, great environment. But obviously very disappointed with the post game"