During her FIBA World Cup debut, Caitlin Clark made history for the Americans, breaking a 28-year-old record. Now, after Team USA narrowly escaped a loss against Italy, the guard who has made a career out of putting the ball through the hoop encountered a reality she had never experienced before.
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During the US’s second game of the World Cup against Italy, Clark finished with one point, four rebounds, and one assist in 18 minutes of play. Notably, she finished the game with no made field goals, going 0-6 from the field and 0-3 from three, marking the first time in her career that she failed to score a single field goal, including both in college and in the WNBA. It was pointed out in an Instagram post by @sportingnews.
It’s a big change for Caitlin Clark, who put up an all-time performance just a few days ago. During Team USA’s debut against China on September 4, Clark logged 14 points and 11 assists, becoming the first American player to log double-digit assists since 1998 and the highest assist total in a debut for any player. Even more impressively, she became the first player with 11 or more assists without throwing a single turnover.
However, as unfamiliar as Caitlin Clark’s box score was, she wasn’t the only one going through what seemed like an offensive nightmare. Team USA shot a disappointing 28.6% from the field and made just one of their 12 three-point attempts. The team also recorded 11 assists to 14 turnovers, showing just how out of sync the Italians had them.
Jackie Young led the team in scoring with 10 points and was the only player to finish with double-digit points and more than two made field goals for the Americans as the World Cup favorites struggled against the Italian defense, which ran a 2-3 zone for most of the game.
In fact, the 55-52 final score marked the USA’s lowest scoring total in a Women’s World Cup game since scoring 51 points against France in 1971, 55 years ago. The effort against Italy is especially surprising since, back in March, the matchup turned out very differently.
During the World Cup Qualifying Tournament, Team USA beat Italy 93-59, a 34-point win. This time, they barely made it out, and Italy almost made them pay for their poor scoring. Italy had a two-point lead with 4:29 left in the fourth when they finally came alive.
Breanna Stewart, Jackie Young, and Chelsea Gray combined for a 7-0 run, including Stewart’s first basket of the game. Still, Italy had the chance to force overtime, but Cecilia Zandalasini’s three at the buzzer missed, marking a loss for the Italians.
This extends Team USA’s winning streak at the FIBA World Cup to two, but this is the closest margin of victory in the tournament since, surpassing the game against Australia in 2010, when they won 83-75, an eight-point win.
After the game, head coach Kara Lawson was not pleased with her team’s effort and called them out in the locker room in a video posted to USA Basketball’s social media.
“Let this be the last time that a team plays with more passion than throughout the course of the game,” she said.
“Let this be the last time that all 12 don’t show up to compete at a high level, and then let this be the last time that we lack that resilient mindset because we’re so upset that we’re not scoring the way we normally score… You do have to be able to win when you don’t have your fastball. We didn’t have our fastball tonight, but we figured it out late. We’ll grow from it.”
Team USA’s next game is against the Czech Republic on September 7, where they will close out group play and try to keep their winning streak alive. With how Lawson called them out for their effort, it would be safe to assume a major bounce-back from Caitlin Clark and the rest of the team.