Caitlin Clark received a tough welcome to the WNBA.
Clark, the No. 1 pick in this year’s draft, got into early foul trouble, committed 10 turnovers—the most in a career debut in WNBA history—and had trouble getting into sync as the Indiana Fever lost 92–71 to the Connecticut Sun in the regular-season opener on May 15.
Clark eventually settled down and finished with 20 points, three assists, and two steals. She was not frustrated by the performance after the game.
Instead, she chalked it up to a learning experience.
“I’m disappointed, and nobody likes to lose, but I don’t think you can beat yourself up too much about one game,” Clark said. “I don’t think that’s going to help this team. Just learn from it and move on.”
It was certainly a big adjustment for Clark, who didn’t have too many disappointing performances at Iowa.
Clark finished her college career as the top scorer in the history of men’s and women’s college basketball with 3,951 points and was a two-time NCAA women’s basketball Player of the Year. She finished with the highest career scoring average (28.42) in Division I history, passing Patricia Hoskins of Mississippi Valley State.
Last season as a senior, Clark averaged 31.6 points, 8.9 assists, and 7.4 rebounds per game, leading Division I in scoring and assists. The Hawkeyes retired her No. 22 jersey number, making her the third player in program history to receive the honor.
Clark’s early struggles in the WNBA were not entirely surprising because there are going to be growing pains with the speed and physicality of the pro game. Against Connecticut, Clark picked up two early fouls and had to go to the bench in the first quarter, which upset her tempo.
Clark is taking everything in stride.
“Obviously, it was not the best start in the first half for myself,” Clark said. “Getting into foul trouble and then you have to sit on the bench and then you have to get back into the game and get into a little bit of a flow. Obviously, there were too many turnovers. That is not going to get the job done but just a lot of things to learn from. I don’t think we played well.”
Despite her slow start, the WNBA is expected to benefit from Clark’s presence on the court. Attendance and television ratings for the WNBA were already trending upward even before Indiana selected Clark. The league has its most-watched season in 21 years, averaging 462,000 viewers per game across its affiliates, ABC, ESPN, and CBS.
Teams are already preparing for the Clark effect when they host Indiana. The Las Vegas Aces, the two-time reigning WNBA champions, relocated their game on May 25 from the 12,000-seat Michelob Ultra Arena to the 18,000-seat T-Mobile Arena to meet demand.
In addition, the Washington Mystics moved their June 7 game against Indiana to Capital One Arena, which has a capacity of 20,356, from their normal home, the Entertainment and Sports Arena, which can host 4,200 fans.
A crowd of 8,910 filled Mohegan Sun Arena in Connecticut—the Sun’s first home opener sellout since their inaugural game in 2003. That was also a franchise record and higher than last season’s average attendance of 6,244.
Indiana opens the season at home on Thursday when they host the New York Liberty at 7 p.m. ET. Tickets for that game are sold out even on the secondary market.
Clark expects to have a better performance for herself and the team.
“The season goes fast; there’s 39 games left,” Clark said. “There are plenty of opportunities to do what we want to do.”
