Caitlin Clark threatens to call the WNBA league office on this referee, a breakdown
What Happened
In a tense WNBA matchup between the Connecticut Sun and the Iowa Hawkeyes, star player Caitlin Clark is embroiled in a heated exchange with the game officials. The game is neck-and-neck, with both teams vying for the upper hand. Midway through the contest, a crucial call goes against the Hawkeyes, and Caitlin Clark, the team's fiery point guard, immediately protests. She insists she did not touch the ball, but the officials do not review the play. The camera zooms in, revealing that Clark's hand appears to be on the opposing player's wrist, not the ball itself, when it goes out of bounds. However, the grainy footage makes it difficult to determine the exact sequence of events. Undeterred, Clark continues to voice her displeasure with the officiating. When another close call goes against her team, she confronts the referee, saying, "You 100% missed that. I didn't touch it at all." The referee responds with what seems to be a comment about Clark's performance, prompting her to exclaim, "That has nothing to do with it! Are you fucking kidding me?" Tensions escalate as the officials review the play. Clark can be heard telling the referee, "That's just rude. Grow up," and threatening to "call the league office" over the matter. The official, visibly uncomfortable, tries to defuse the situation, saying, "You complained all game." After a lengthy review, the officials overturn the call, ruling that the ball last touched a Connecticut player. Clark's team retains possession, but the damage to the relationship between the star player and the officials has been done. Later in the game, another controversial no-call occurs when Connecticut's Sophie Cunningham takes an elbow to the head, and Clark is visibly frustrated by the lack of action from the referees. The game continues with a tense atmosphere, as both teams and the officials struggle to maintain control of the proceedings. Despite the ongoing drama, the game remains closely contested, with the two teams battling for every possession. The summary captures the intensity and high emotions of this WNBA rivalry, as Caitlin Clark's fiery competitiveness clashes with the officials' attempts to maintain order on the court.
Full Transcript
Click timestamps to jump to that momentKaitlyn Clark and WNBA officials are just not getting along.
It hasn't been a great time.
This breakdown is brought to you by DraftKings.
They're playing Connecticut again.
The last time I did a breakdown, it was the same matchup.
So, you know, there's always a lot of tension, it seems.
And this call goes against them, and she's upset right away.
And this is the first part.
This hasn't been in a lot of the videos that I've watched on this.
But that, she's upset.
She's like, I didn't touch it, okay?
They don't go to a replay.
So all we have is the game footage just zoomed in and slowed down.
And it looks like, to me, Kaitlyn Clark's hand is on the other girl's wrist,
not the ball, and the other girl hits it out.
But who knows, because that's grainy.
Anyway, just setting the stage, she was upset about that call
and thinking he missed that one.
Play resumes.
Connecticut's got the ball, and it goes out of bounds.
This time, easy call.
That's Connecticut's ball.
They inbound it again.
This is all the same sequence.
This is the next time they have the ball.
Put up a shot.
Rebound.
Bobble.
Touch.
She says, that way.
Kaitlyn Clark doesn't argue.
The other team, they're not into it.
They're like, we're going to probably challenge that.
So the whistle blows, and she says, we got the ball.
What's, what's, what's, uh, uh, uh.
And they're going to discuss it, and the ref comes in,
and she says, you 100%.
He says, 100%.
Hey, you keep missing those.
I didn't touch it last time.
He said, yeah, but come on now.
I didn't touch it at all.
And then he says something to her that makes her not happy.
And I tried to zoom in.
I tried to give it a look.
I have no idea.
The only thing I guess, and this is context clues and literally just guessing,
you're not having a great game.
Don't take it out on me.
And she, it seems something like that to me.
I would guess it seems like he said something along those lines.
You're not having a great game.
Don't take it out on me.
Like, oh, I'm not having a great game.
You're not either.
Because her face is just like, what?
That's not.
And then she is going to say.
That has nothing to do with it.
Are you fucking kidding me?
From her point of view, it was out of line.
It had nothing to do with the calls she was arguing.
He's checking out the replay.
This is what they're looking at.
And I thought they were looking at this.
And everyone thought they were looking at that.
Looks like she didn't touch it.
But no, rewind, go back to the beginning.
And it does look like number six, his hand is underneath and pops it up.
And number 24 on Connecticut never touched it.
That right there pops it up.
And then she goes to touch it here.
And she doesn't.
Touch it here.
So that's what they're looking at.
Meanwhile, Galen Clark is just upset.
There was audio of this, so you could kind of hear it.
And she says, that's just rude.
Grow up, come here, come here, come here.
Unbelievable.
How dare you say that to me?
And then you get here at faintly and she says, I will be calling too.
Yeah, I'll be calling too.
Just to let you know.
Cause cause that, that was embarrassing.
That's disappointing.
Puts it right on him.
That's disappointing.
What's he going to say?
Is he gonna make a face?
Of course.
Okay.
Well, um, you, you complained, you complained all game.
Uh, and then that kind of ends it there.
That was that I couldn't figure out most of it.
Mostly cause it's not shot in like 60 frames per second.
It's just not as like, there's not as many shots.
They don't show as many replays.
It's kind of tough going.
They're checking out the replay.
Speaking of in the, the official in question, we're 39.
It's like,
I'll just back out of here.
Seems like you guys don't need me.
Seems like you're checking on my homework and I didn't do well.
So I'm going to back away slowly.
They're all waiting.
Takes a long time.
They're just waiting around, reliving the drama.
Okay.
All right.
What's it going to be?
And then the official comes and maybe one of the best enunciators in this
great game of women's basketball.
After review, Howard last touches the ball.
As it goes out of bounds, the call on the floor will be overturned to Connecticut.
The basketball, the challenge has been deemed successful.
Connecticut will retain their timeout and have the ability to challenge once more.
Thank you.
That dude practice is talking in a mirror later in the game.
There's more nonsense.
When Sophie Cunningham takes that shot to the head, right in front of the
official and nothing happens, she walks over.
She's like, Hey, did you see that?
No.
Okay.
Good job.
Here's a replay of the split screen where you got number 10 on Connecticut.
Sizing it up.
You can see her look over, look over and she sees her.
Watch.
You can see her.
I guess she's looks over there.
She is looks over.
Okay.
Beat her to the spot.
Okay.
And bam.
And lean into it.
Throw the elbow, get the forearm right to the head.
Bam.
And Sophie goes down and she just keeps playing.
And so if he's going to stand up, whip the ponytail and be like low elbow, huh?
No.
Okay.
Good job.
Then you're doing great.
Meanwhile, then number 10 gets called on a foul right after that, the other official who
was staring number 28, you can see her staring and you can see her afterwards.
Shaker had known just very slightly.
Your ponytail just does a little, right?
She's like, nah, they told they, I guess they told her she dove, which, you know, you're
trying to embellish it a little bit, but you still took a, you took an arm to the head.
Anyway, let's keep moving.
Later on in the game, Sophie Cunningham again has the ball running the baseline bump out
of bounds.
They say, no, just out of bounds.
Nothing happened.
And she's like, uh, you know, that was a bump.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So call it.
Okay.
That'd be great.
I'd appreciate that.
Uh, what is going on?
Thanks.
The coach thinks me.
Thanks.
You what's going on?
I hate Caitlin Clark.
This breakdown is brought to you by DraftKings.
Thank you very much for tuning in.
Thank you to the WNBA.
Officiating is kind of bad.
I only watch a little piece of it.
Officiating is bad.