Caitlin Clark Declines to Discuss Fever-Sun Fight, 'Let's Talk About Basketball'

Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark declined to address the on-court extracurriculars during Tuesday's 88-71 win over the Connecticut Sun.

"You guys came for basketball; let's talk about basketball," she said in her postgame press conference, per ESPN's Alexa Philippou.

Clark and Sun guard Jacy Sheldon, who faced off against one another multiple times in college, went at one another throughout the game. Tensions escalated when Sheldon accidentally poked Clark in the eye in the third quarter. Clark responded by giving Sheldon a light shove, which led Connecticut guard Marina Mabrey to insert herself into the situation:

Inside the final minute of the contest, tempers flared again when the Fever's Sophie Cunningham made a hard foul on Sheldon to prevent her from attempting a layup. Cunningham also grabbed Sheldon around the head when they squared up on the baseline, and multiple players from both teams tried to separate the two.

Cunningham, Sheldon and Sun guard Lindsay Allen were all ejected after referees reviewed the incident.

Crew chief Ashley Gloss said Mabrey's bump on Clark in the third quarter "did not rise to the level of an ejection" or warrant a flagrant 2 foul. Cunningham's foul on Sheldon did, however, while Sheldon and Allen were considered "escalators" in the ensuing shoving match:

Fever head coach Stephanie White didn't think the officials properly policed the physicality as the game unfolded.

"I started talking to the officials in the first quarter, and we knew this was going to happen," she said, per Philippou. "You could tell it was going to happen. So, they've got to get control of it. They've got to be better."

Connecticut center Olivia Nelson-Ododa made a similar assessment.

"Obviously, there was a physical game tonight. I think when things aren't managed well to begin with that it tends to get out of hand," she said. "I feel like a lot of stuff was escalating throughout the game, and that's what happens when you don't make the proper calls or officiate the game and manage it the right way."

The Sun and Fever don't play again until July 15. Even though that's almost a month away, neither team is likely to totally forget what happened Tuesday in Indianapolis.