Caitlin Clark had one of the worst games of her career during Saturday night’s blowout loss to the Portland Fire as she struggled on both ends of the court and found herself in foul trouble most of the game. Now, it sounds like all she can do is bounce back.

While Clark struggled on the offensive end of the court, scoring just six points on a 1-for-7 shooting performance, she was even worse on the defensive end. Clark struggled to defend Fire guard Carla Weite, who finished the game with 18 points and 12 assists, as she picked up five fouls before the fourth quarter even began.

After the game, Clark addressed her defensive struggles and her foul trouble, making it clear that the officiating was not to blame.

Caitlin Clark’s Defensive Struggles

Clark has never been a strong on-ball defender, and the Fire took advantage of that by intentionally putting Clark in a position that required her to defend Weite in one-on-one isolation situations. Clark struggled to stay in front of Weite and defend without fouling, and that led to a lot of foul issues.

Clark entered halftime with three fouls and picked up her fourth just two minutes into the third quarter. As a result, Fever head coach Stephanie White put Clark on the bench.

After sitting on the bench for most of the third quarter, Clark checked back into the game at the 2-minute mark in the third quarter, but she picked up her fifth foul less than two minutes later and was immediately taken back out of the lineup. Clark remained on the bench until midway through the fourth quarter, but the game was already out of reach at that point.

Clark’s foul trouble forced her to the bench far more often than she or the Fever would have liked. As a result, she was never able to develop a rhythm offensively.

Clark Addresses Struggles

After the game, Clark was asked about her foul trouble and whether or not she felt that the new officiating emphasis played a role in her five fouls. While Clark has never been shy about criticizing the officiating in the past, she did not feel like it was an issue on Saturday night.

“Officiating wasn’t our problem tonight,” Clark said after the game.

Clark took the blame herself as she said that she simply needs to be better on the defensive side of the ball, especially if the opponent is going to look to put her in one-on-one iso situations.

“It’s hard when you foul,” Clark said. “I just need to do a better job of being straight up and keeping the [opponent] in front of me. Also, if they’re going to hunt isos, just move my feet a little bit better. Definitely some tough ones, but that’s just basketball. It’s just a game. Learn from it, watch the film, come back next game, and be ready to go.”

Clark and the Fever will have a chance to bounce back on Thursday with a showdown against Angel Reese and the Atlanta Dream.

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