Caitlin Clark 'Sore' After Injury Return, Says Fever Have A 'Sense of Desperation'

Indiana Fever star guard Caitlin Clark spoke with reporters Friday prior to her team's home game against the Atlanta Dream, and the discussion spanned a number of topics, including how she's feeling after returning from a five-game absence due to a groin injury as well as a "sense of desperation" the team is facing (albeit with half of the season left) amid a slow start (2:10 mark).

"I feel good for the most part," Clark began. "I'm sore, but that's probably the given from here on out just because you know I haven't played much basketball, it's been very on-and-off, you're gonna be sore, that's just kind of how it's going to be. And I think I've done a great job over 48 hours since our last game ended of just getting treatment, doing everything I can to put my body in position to feel good tonight. And I feel, you know, pretty good, so I'm excited to get back out there.

Clark has missed 10 games due to injury this season, including five because of a quad strain. Her shooting numbers are down (38.6 percent from the field this year versus 41.7 percent last year and 30.1 percent from three this season against 34.4 percent last season). But despite the injury issues, she's still been productive, averaging 17.4 points, 8.6 assists, 5.0 rebounds and 1.5 steals per game.

However, it's been a tough season for Indiana, who sit eighth place in the WNBA with a 9-10 record. There's 21 regular-season games left (including the home contest with Atlanta), and the Fever are in playoff position with eight teams making the field.

Indiana would certainly want to pick things up soon enough. Clark offered some perspective on how things have gone while offering hope for a brighter future.

"And I think there is a sense of desperation, but there's also still a long ways to go at the same time. Like, I think we just approach it just one game at a time, one practice at a time. You know, you can't get too caught up on the ones that we've maybe let slip away and you know that stinks but at the same time you can't go back and reverse that. You just got to learn from it and move forward and you know I think at times it can may be a little bit difficult with me bouncing in and out of the lineup. Like, I don't want to say we play a completely different style, but it is just a little bit different. So I think it'll take us just a second to kind of adjust to that, and you know, we just need to get the ball moving and flowing again on offense and we're going to make shots. You know, it was kind of an anomaly of, you know, we just shot the ball really bad and, you know, we're going to make shots, but I also think we can work to get our teammates open for better looks as well."

Clark returned Wednesday post-groin injury against the Golden State Valkyries, but it was a tough one for her and the team en route to an 80-61 loss. Clark scored just 10 points on 4-of-12 shooting for a Fever team that shot just 30.9 percent from the field.

Indiana is certainly capable of much better play, and the team has the benefit of half a season to get it right before the playoffs. Hopefully Clark enjoys a good string of health here at the very least as Indiana looks to get on the right side of .500.