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Caitlin Clark collides with fan in ‘kind of scary’ moment during court storm

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January 21, 2024 at 4:50 p.m. EST
Iowa guard Caitlin Clark said she was “okay” after colliding with a fan who stormed the court following Ohio State’s overtime victory Sunday in Columbus. (Sue Ogrocki/AP)
3 min

Iowa star guard Caitlin Clark said she was uninjured after being “blindsided” in a scary collision with a fan who was among those storming the court after Ohio State’s 100-92 overtime victory over the Hawkeyes on Sunday in Columbus.

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Video shows Clark, who had 45 points in No. 2 Iowa’s loss to the No. 18 Buckeyes, was exiting the court when she and the fan collided near the free throw line. Both fell to the Schottenstein Center floor, and Clark was helped up by teammates as the other person got up and joined the crowd. Afterward, Clark, the nation’s leading scorer, told reporters she was okay but that the hard fall briefly knocked the wind out of her.

“Obviously I could see they were storming the court, which is totally fine and good for their students, great win for them. 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, and [that’s] kind of scary,” Clark said in the postgame news conference. “Could have caused a pretty serious injury to me, and knocked the wind out of me, but luckily my teammates picked me up and got me off the court.

“[Ohio State Athletic Director Gene Smith] already came and apologized to me, so I really appreciate that. 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, but just focus now on the game and ways we can get better.”

Iowa Coach Lisa Bluder told reporters that Clark, who turns 22 on Monday, had also been the target of some verbal abuse.

“It’s unfortunate the game ended that way and Caitlin gets taken out on the floor, gets some inappropriate words yelled at her by fans, by students. That just should not happen. It should not happen,” said Bluder, whose team lost for only the second time this season. “Our players should be safe. They should be able to walk off the floor. That’s very disappointing.”

Clark typically has security, given her high profile, but dozens of Ohio State fans, including the team mascot, rushed to midcourt as more poured down from the stands. The crowd of 18,660 set an Ohio State record and was the largest at an indoor women’s college basketball game this season.

Ohio State Coach Kevin McGuff told reporters: “I feel really badly. Hopefully, she’s okay and it doesn’t have any effect [on] her moving forward. That’s extremely unfortunate. It shouldn’t happen to anybody, but man, such a great player like Caitlin, I really hate that.”

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