Caitlin Clark Speaks Out On DiJonai Carrington Eye Poke After Blowout Loss In Playoff Debut

Getty Image

Caitlin Clark‘s WNBA playoff debut went about as poorly as she could have imagined.

Clark shot just 4-of-17 for 11 points and finished the game with a black eye  as Indiana Fever were blown out by the Connecticut Sun, 93-69.

The black eye came courtesy of an eye poke from Sun guard DiJonai Carrington. But Clark isn’t blaming the eye poke for the loss or her brutal performance.

Instead, she said that she just needs to play better, which means making open shots when she has them.

“Obviously, got me pretty good in the eye. I don’t think it affected me,” Clark told reporters. “I felt like I got good shots; they just didn’t go down. Obviously, a tough time for that to happen…

“My shot felt right there,” Clark said in the postgame press conference. “That’s why it’s so frustrating as a shooter, when it feels so good, but it won’t go down for you. That’s what sucks about it. We were right there, and I felt like we just played a crappy game.”

Carrington didn’t defend Clark for much of the game. Instead, that responsibility went to veteran DeWanna Bonner, who at 6-foot-4 has the requisite length to trouble the young superstar.

“It was about having length, it was about giving us versatility in our pick-and-roll situations, giving a different look,” Sun coach Stephanie White said of the decision to put Bonner on Clark. “So much about this game is about comfort, it’s about rhythm, it’s about timing, it’s about all those things and how can you make an adjustment that disrupts some of that.”

Given Clark’s struggles, it’s likely she draws the same assignment in Game 2 on Wednesday night. Should the Sun come out with another victory, then Clark and the Fever’s first playoff run since 2016 will be over in the blink of an eye.