Coach’s Challenge, May 2, 2024: Teams will now be awarded a second Coach’s Challenge – to be used during regulation play or in overtime – if their first Challenge is successful. 

Just like last season, Saturday’s matchup between Indiana and New York did not disappoint. The semi-freshly-formed Fever gave the reigning World champions a run for their money through and through until the Liberty finally broke free with a 15-point lead in the first half. But Indiana did not give up either, finally leading with 12 points in the second half. Interestingly, this was despite Caitlin Clark not having the same magic touch from beyond the arc, a streak that was broken in the win over Atlanta.

But when Indiana looked comfortable enough to successfully defend home court, New York handed them a loss. The biggest culprit for the Indiana fans? The officiating. But the blame is still going to the first-year Fever HC Stephanie White for missing two challenge opportunities. And here’s why:

– Calling challenge #1: 3Q | 6:26 to the quarter| NYL leading 61-55: Brenna Stewart caught a pass from Sabrina Ionescu and drove towards the basket. With Natasha Howard guarding her, she leaned into the veteran to pull a foul, and she did. But without wasting a moment, White called for a challenge. When the officials re-evaluated the call, it turned out that the offense initiated the contact. Just like that, Howard did not get her fourth personal of the game and the game continued with Fever ball, and Indiana retained their timeout. Interestingly, when the same repeated again, White did not go for the challenge.

– Not calling for a challenge for Lexie Hull: 4Q | 7.6 seconds to the game | Game tied 88-88: In the most clutch moments, Sabrina Ionescu caught an inbound and drove towards the basket with Lexie guarding her. In the same way as Stewie did to Howard, she too leaned into Hull and pulled a foul. Even the announcer Debbie Antonelli exclaimed on the replay, “I don’t know, Lexie Hull is vertical. Maybe that’s offense-initiated contact. Maybe Stephanie White’s gonna take a look at it.”

But to everyone’s surprise, the HC did not. Instead, Ionescu, who had missed both of her previous free throws, made both this time and NY took the lead 90-88. Then there was the last offensive play the Fever could go for.

– Not calling for a challenge for Caitlin Clark: 4Q | 2.9 seconds to the game | NYL leading 90-88: Everyone knew that with less than 3 seconds left on the clock, White would trust Clark to inbound the ball and take the final shot. So, Fever called a reset timeout, and Sophie Cunningham threw the ball to the reigning ROTY. Even Debbie predicted, “Natasha Cloud’s gonna be draped all over her.” And much to Indiana fans’ dismay, that happened. As the sophomore point guard made one dribble while moving towards the basket, Cloud’s moving left leg disbalanced her and she was left looking for a call that never came her way.

Even the players stayed on the floor, thinking the Liberty is in penalty, but nothing such happened as the visitors took the ball-game home with a 90-88 win. Caitlin could only make her case to the referee at position C, who was in front of the play and should have blown the whistle. Even the fans audible on the live CBS broadcast kept screaming “Challenge, challenge,” but to no use. So, when the storm in the Gainbridge Fieldhouse had calmed down, came not one but hundreds of thousands of pointing fingers, blaming White for not calling the challenge on either of the last-minute plays where they would have won the timeout, and possibly the game.

“Pretty sure that’s a foul. But why is Stephanie White taking challenges home with her?” Dave Portnoy, the founder of Barstool Sports, tweeted, referring to the Hull situation. His question was quite valid. But if you see the game, even Hull did not ask for a challenge which could have influenced White’s decision. But of course, there’s a reason why no one even asked for a challenge.

As Chloe Peterson also revealed, “Stephanie White could not challenge that foul call on Lexie Hull (the one that led to the game-winning free throws from Sabrina Ionescu) because she didn’t have a timeout. You need a full timeout, not a reset timeout, to initiate a challenge.” But on top of the challenges not called, officiating throughout the game did not fall in favor of the Indiana Fever.

In the battle of a game, the Liberty got 32 chances to go to the charity stripe, making 25 of those. In contrast, the Fever only got 15 trips to the free throw line, more than half of the visitors. Even the whistles were a little lopsided, with Indiana picking 25 fouls total over Liberty’s 17.

No doubt, fans were upset beyond measure at the officiating, but some of the blame fell to Stephanie White as well. The Indiana Fever head coach caught a lot of heat for not using her challenges to try and bail out her team in the dying embers of the game. But what exactly did fans have to say? And is the backlash even justified? 

Fever fans fuming at Stephanie White and the referees after Caitlin Clark and her teammate get caught in foul trouble

Social media went wild after the game, and the officiating that decided the result. After all, there is always bound to be discourse or pushback if a game is decided by free throws, or if there’s a call that should have been contested. In this case? It was both. And while Clark said “I don’t know” about what happened on the final play, the Fever coach did not hold back.

“I thought she got fouled. I think it’s pretty egregious what’s been happening to us the last few games. A minus-31 free-throw discrepancy (over the last three games), and I might be able to understand it if we were just chucking 3s, but we’re not. We’re attacking the rim, and the disrespect right now for our team has been pretty unbelievable.”

Yet, this wasn’t enough to please the fans who were still holding onto the fact that she didn’t challenge the calls then and there. One X user wrote, “Unless there is a good reason. There is no excuse to Stephanie White not challenging that foul on Lexie. Come on Steph.”

Hull’s foul changed the game and ended up ruining what was otherwise a great night for her! The six-foot-one guard put up 15 points in 26 minutes of playing time, shooting a perfect 2-of-2 from deep. In fact, she brought the heat back to the Fever when Clark’s shots not going in turned down the Fever fans. On defense, she was nothing short of the Hull we know. Her on-ball pressure was enough to get quite a few stops, and even one steal during her short minutes. Probably why she was brought in as a starter for the high-intensity game instead of DeWanna Bonner.

One fan said on X, and another agreed. “Stephanie White dropped the ball by not challenging this.” And then, with just 2.2 seconds remaining, Hull was let down as the foul called on her gave Liberty the decisive points. The game was in hands, and just like that, it slipped away because White chose not to challenge the call.

“I still can’t wrap my head around why Stephanie White didn’t challenge there. Dumb,” said another fan. But why exactly is that a bad thing? Well, one user on X made the explanation seem rather simple. “Stephanie White should have challenged that, the game about to end just use the challenge.” 

It’s not that simple, though. There was a problem at the end of the game. The Indiana Fever didn’t have a timeout left and a team must have a timeout to start a challenge. They had the ‘reset’ timeout but not a complete timeout, which doesn’t allow a coach to challenge a call. So, in the final moments, Coach White couldn’t challenge any important plays. Yeah, all the backlash White is facing might be unjust, after all.

As one fan rightly pointed out, “Indiana didn’t have a team timeout. Just the reset timeout therefore they couldn’t challenge. The announcers didn’t even know the rules.”

Anyway, it will be interesting to see how Stephanie White and Caitlin Clark come back from this. Although the head coach is under fire for this decision, it was the officiating that did not favor the team. Meanwhile, her star player arguably has it worse. Clark’s slump is a major point of concern for the Fever, and until she gets back in form, their offense will be losing a major pillar of support.