Referee Issues Statement on Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese Incident

Saturday’s season-opening showdown between the Indiana Fever and the Chicago Sky was largely uncompetitive, with the Fever beating the Sky by 35 points to begin the season. However, there was one moment in the game that ignited a lot of discourse.  During the third quarter of Saturday’s game, Caitlin Clark knocked Sky forward Angel Reese to the ground with a hard foul that was eventually upgraded to a Flagrant 1 foul after a video review.

After the game, Clark downplayed the foul as she made it clear that there was no malicious intent with the foul. Clark insisted that the foul was just a good basketball play given the situation.  “It’s just a good take foul,” Clark explained to ESPN’s Holly Rowe after the game. “Either Angel gets wide open two points or we send ’em to the free throw line. Nothing malicious about it. It’s just a good take foul, every basketball player knows that.”

However, crew chief Roy Gulbeyan did not agree with Clark’s assessment of the foul, deeming the play “not a legitimate basketball play” and “unnecessary contact.”  “Okay, the foul on Clark met the criteria for Flagrant Foul 1, for wind up, impact, and follow through for the extension of the left hand to Reese’s back, which is deemed not a legitimate basketball play, and therefore deemed unnecessary contact. After the foul, there is a physical taunt technical on Boston and a verbal technical on Reese, which offset,” Gulbeyan said after the game.  Regardless, it was just another chapter in the rivalry between Clark and Reese.