LSU’s Flau’Jae Johnson Reminisces Loss vs Caitlin Clark as Angel Reese’s Teammate Gives Iowa Legend Her Flowers: “Really Wanted That Challenge”

Published 05/02/2024, 8:59 AM EDT

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USA Today via Reuters

The memories of LSU’s Elite Eight loss to Iowa are still fresh in the minds of its fans. Despite their valiant efforts, the Lady Tigers weren’t able to get past the challenge posed by Caitlin Clark and Co. Evidently, Kim Mulkey’s game plans didn’t have the impact as expected. To shed some more light on the night, their No. 4 Flau’jae Johnson reflected her valuable inputs. 

The 5′ 10″ guard was recently seen on the Baller Alert Show, expressing herself on a variety of subjects. One of those was how the 2023 national champions were struggling to guard Caitlin Clark and what she thought about going against the NCAA Division I all-time leading scorer. Johnson explained her narrative, saying, “really wanted that challenge, but I was just trusting the game plan.” 

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As it turned out, the guarding responsibilities for the night were entrusted to Johnson’s former teammate Hailey Van Lith. Consequently, she was under a lot of fire, as the 6-foot guard ended up scoring 41 points in the 40 minutes she spent on the hardwood. 

Johnson then supported her teammates’ efforts and rubbished all the criticisms. Adding further, Johnson claimed, “You could not guard that girl for 40 minutes. But she stepped up for the challenge at the end of the day. I had to follow the scouting report.”

But that was not all from the 2023 SEC Freshman of the Year; she didn’t hold herself back in praising the No. 1 overall WNBA draft pick, Caitlin Clark. 

Flau’jae Johnson hails Caitlin Clark’s stardom

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The 20-year-old then had some answers for all of Clark’s haters. In a great sense of sportsmanship, she didn’t shy away from extending her support to the spotlight of Caitlin Clark. Johnson noted, “Say what you want, she’s a star… America has gravitated to her and it’s only putting the women up more and more so I love it. It’s going to give more opportunities for women like me coming up.” 

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Come what may, the generational talent that Caitlin Clark has requires no validation. Not only are her teammates mesmerized by her skills but also her opponents acknowledge the way she has completely transformed women’s college basketball. Moreover, the way Clark has garnered so much attention to the sport is also commendable. The craze and popularity of witnessing her in action are thoroughly having their impression in the form of surging ticket prices and sold-out stadiums.

Do you agree with Johnson’s take on Caitlin Clark? Let us know in the comments. 

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Written by:

Shahryar Fazal

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Shahryar Fazal is a senior NBA writer at EssentiallySports. His specialisation lies in his scrupulous Live Coverage of the events like NCAA and WNBA tournaments. A former sportsman himself, Shahryar used to contribute stories for publishing houses like TOI before taking up American sports as his field of interest.
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