The No. 18 Ohio State Buckeyes women’s basketball team pulled off an impressive 100-92 overtime win at home against the No. 2 Iowa Hawkeyes Sunday, and did so despite a 45-point performance from Iowa star Caitlin Clark. And fans stormed the court afterwards. But, in that chaos, someone appeared to make contact with Clark, who was helped off. Here’s video of the court storming, as seen on the NBC/Peacock broadcast:
Here's the end of Iowa's 100-92 loss to Ohio State despite Caitlin Clark's 45-point performance, with Buckeyes' fans storming the floor. "They have taken down the No. 2 team in the country!" pic.twitter.com/BdHwkrJRDz
— The Comeback (@thecomeback) January 21, 2024
Here’s a zoom in on the part involving Clark (around 0:08):
For people that wondered why Caitlin Clark always has multiple cops around her when the game isn't going on– it's to protect her from morons like that.
Caitlin was in a lot of pain leaving the court:
pic.twitter.com/E17SeXYR7b— David Eickholt (@DavidEickholt) January 21, 2024
And here’s a different angle from the stands:
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
Clark was helped off, and appeared to be in significant pain:
Something happened with Caitlin Clark at the end of the game and she had to be helped off the court. Appeared to be on a lot of pain/distress. pic.twitter.com/Te3feQh7QA
— Patrick Murphy (@_Pat_Murphy) January 21, 2024
Fortunately, Clark said afterwards this doesn’t seem to be a severe injury:
Caitlin Clark says she’s ok now after getting blindsided by a fan trying to storm the court. She fell hard and mentioned she got the wind knocked out of her. pic.twitter.com/V8SzpsCDMU
— Kellyanne Stitts (@KellyanneStitts) January 21, 2024
But this is going to lead to much more discussion of court storming and if it should be banned or not. There are fines for schools whose fans storm the field or court in many conferences, and the SEC increased theirs (to $100,000 for the home school’s first violation, $250,000 for its second, and $500,000 for subsequent violations) last summer, but the Big Ten does not prohibit court-storming.
At any rate, this somewhat overshadowed what was a remarkable game. Clark shone for Iowa with 45 points (one low of her NCAA career-high) on 12 of 25 shooting from the field and seven of 18 from deep, but a team effort from Ohio State (led by 33 points from Cotie McMahon and 24 from Jacy Sheldon) proved to be enough for the Buckeyes to triumph, even if it took overtime. And they handed the Hawkeyes their first loss since November, and only their second of the season:
No. 18 Ohio State beat No. 2 Iowa 100-92 in overtime despite 45 points from Caitlin Clark. Here's some overtime discussion from announcers Zora Stephenson and LaChina Robinson of how they did it. pic.twitter.com/H1ClikmesV
— The Comeback (@thecomeback) January 21, 2024
And this game got an excellent slot on NBC and Peacock as the lead-up to Football Night In America (ahead of the Detroit Lions-Tampa Bay Buccaneers divisional round playoff game), and it presumably got a big audience from that as well. And it’s good to hear that Clark doesn’t seem to have been seriously injured from this. But this will likely lead to a lot more discussion of court storming.
[The Field of 68 on Twitter/X]
