University of Iowa women's basketball player Caitlin Clark appeared to be knocked off her feet in a collision with an Ohio State fan storming the Schottensten Center court Sunday following the Buckeyes' 100-92 upset of the second-ranked Hawkeyes.
In what she called a "kind of scary" moment, Clark, the reigning national player of the year and projected number-one pick in the WNBA draft, remained briefly on her hands and knees before being escorted off the floor. Though not seriously injured, she expressed that the situation could have been worse, drawing attention to the potential risks of court storming ā a practice several collegiate conferences have tried to curtail through security measures and fines levied against offending schools.
Attendance was 18,660, the largest in the nation this women's basketball season.
"I could see they were storming the court, which was totally fine. Good for their students, great win for them," said Clark, who scored 45 points in defeat, as reported by ESPN. Clark added she was "hammered" and "blindsided" by the court-stormer while trying to get to the locker room as quickly as she could.
"That just should not happen," Iowa coach Lisa Bluder said. "Our players should be safe. They should be able to walk off the floor. That's very disappointing. Ohio State, great team, great environment, but obviously very disappointed with the postgame with our players getting injured trying to walk out of the gym. That's wrong."
Ohio State coach Kevin McGuff agreed. "Such a spectacular performance today and she's such a great player, and that should never happen," he said at a post-game press conference. "I feel really badly. Hopefully, she's OK and it doesn't affect her moving forward. That's extremely unfortunate. It shouldn't happen to anybody, but man, such a great player like Caitlin, you really hate that. I know we had security, but a student apparently beat the security, so I really feel badly about that."
Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith apologized to Clark, and she said that "really appreciated that." She added, "I'm sure they tried their best to do whatever they could. Obviously it didn't work, and that's disappointing. Just focused now on the game and ways we can get better."
The loss snapped Iowa's 15-game winning streak and was its first defeat in Big Ten play.
There has been no indication if the Big Ten Conference will address the situation, but Purdue University men's basketball coach Matt Painter spoke up about court-storming following his team's loss at Nebraska on Jan. 9. "We gotta do something about the court storms, guys," Painter said, as reported by Sports Illustrated. "I just don't know why institutions aren't ready for it. Like, what did you think was gonna happen if they won? Spread the word. Spread the word before somebody gets hurt."
