On Monday, the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut, was packed with fans as Caitlin Clark was in action. Fans arrived in large numbers for Indiana Fever’s game against the Connecticut Sun on June 10.

Indiana Fever v Connecticut Sun

The fans, who arrived with a ton of excitement, left the arena slightly disappointed. Clark only played 22 minutes on the game as she was benched for the last 15 minutes of the contest.

The expectant fans were desperate to watch Clark back in action. Chants of “We want Caitlin” echoed inside the Mohegan Sun Arena when the Fever rookie was warming the bench on the sidelines.

The fans’ wish wasn’t granted as Clark didn’t check back into the game after leaving the court with five minutes to go in the 3rd quarter. Fever coach Christie Sides decided to keep Clark on the bench as she was enduring a tough time on the court and the team was trailing by a big margin.

Indiana Fever rookie Caitlin Clark has filled up arenas in the WNBA this season. The tickets for games featuring Clark in the WNBA have been sold out on almost all occasions.

The Indiana Fever suffered a blowout loss on the road against the Connecticut Sun on Monday, 89-72. Clark’s poor performance on the night directly impacted the team’s overall display on the court. The Fever rookie scored just 10 points and failed to grab even a single rebound in the 22 minutes she spent on the court.

 

Why did Caitlin Clark miss the last 15 minutes against the Sun?

 

The primary reason why Clark didn’t return to the game was her and the players in Fever’s starting lineup’s “lack of effort as cited by Sides after the game. The Fever coach said that she wanted to stick with players who gave more effort on the defensive end.

“At this level, you can’t coach effort. I feel we were just asking them to keep playing. You can’t start there, you can’t keep playing in this league where we have to coach effort,” Sides said.

“We e were down 28 and I wanted to put a group in that would get out and play some defense. Really proud of that group.”

Whatever the reason, the fans, especially the Caitlin Clark faithful, were unhappy with Sides’ decision to keep the star rookie on the bench for the last 15 minutes of the game on Monday.