The Iowa women's basketball team's shocking upset loss to Ohio State on Sunday wasn't even the most distressing aspect of Iowa's evening. That came once the game ended, when Caitlin Clark collided with a court-storming fan as she ran off the court, sending Clark sprawling and seemingly injured.
Caitlin Clark just got decked by an Ohio State fan as she was leaving the court ? pic.twitter.com/zuKD2KMqk6
— The Field of 68 (@TheFieldOf68) January 21, 2024
Luckily for Clark, Iowa and everybody else who enjoys watching college basketball, the collision didn't end up hurting Clark. However, the superstar was still upset about the incident occurring and what could have come from it.
During her media availability after No. 2-ranked Iowa's 100-92 overtime loss to No. 18 Ohio State, Clark — who scored 45 points in the defeat — said of the collision, "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.
"Basically blindsided and, you know, kind of scary," Clark continued. "Could have caused a pretty serious injury to me and knocked the wind out of me. But luckily my teammates kind of picked me up and got me off the court. Their AD already came and apologized to me, so I really appreciate that."
After Clark confirmed she's OK and the worrisome scenario is now in the rearview mirror, social media detectives have been breaking down the collision's video footage like an NFL replay to see whether it was really the Ohio State fan who's to blame for the collision.
Pretty obvious to tell that the fan is trying to avoid the contact. Clark whips her head back when there wasn?t even any contact to the head.? pic.twitter.com/gl68ilvsEp
— Cyclone Dave (@CycloneDave69) January 21, 2024
The multiple different camera angles of the clash call into question whether Clark might have actually seen the court-storming fan before the collision took place. What's more, some are suggesting that Clark may have extended her arms into the fan, exaggerated the hit's impact and made a dramatic show of falling to the ground after the two made contact.
Alternate angle of the Caitlin Clark incident.
Looks like Caitlin may have extended her arms a little ?
pic.twitter.com/pteuBTXTcV— NBA Nation (@_NBANation) January 21, 2024
In other words, people are claiming that Clark flopped.
Yet, while video evidence may suggest that the charging call on the fan could be overturned to a flop on Clark's part, the replay isn't indisputable.
What's for certain is that Clark extending her arms in order to brace for an unexpected impact is a pretty normal thing for someone to do. Even if Clark was facing in the fan's direction, there wasn't enough time for her to plot the flop in advance. And if Clark did dramatize falling to the floor, can we really blame her?
Seems like a savvy move from an experienced vet, in our opinion.
Regardless of whether you think Clark flopped, we should all be relieved that Clark is injury-free so we can watch her chase the NCAA scoring record.
