Indiana

Caitlin Clark, Aliyah Boston, Christie Sides vent frustration after Fever fall to 1-7

Published

2 years ago

May 29, 2024

Caitlin Clark, Aliyah Boston, Christie Sides vent frustration after Fever fall to 1-7

INDIANAPOLIS – Christie Sides, her voice hoarse, was short and to the point after the Indiana Fever lost 88-82 to the Los Angeles Sparks on Tuesday.

She was frustrated about her squad’s 3-point defense in the second half. She was frustrated about the Fever’s 26 personal fouls. She was frustrated about some Indiana players spending “too much” time talking to game officials.

More: Opponents guard Caitlin Clark between free throws. She still scored 30 points.

Takeaways: Caitlin Clark scores career-high 30 points, but Fever lose to LA, fall to 1-7

Most of all, she was frustrated about the Fever’s seventh loss out of eight games this season.

“It’s really hard to feel good about the performance at all right now,” Sides said. “This is a home game, this is a game we were supposed to win.”

Although Sides got what she wanted in terms of forced turnovers (19 to 14), offensive rebounds (9 to 4) and points off turnovers (24 to 20), it wasn’t good enough to secure a second victory in five days against Los Angeles, and that’s what mattered to her.

For a near six-minute stretch between the end of the second quarter and the start of the third, the Fever went on a 14-0 run to gain a 43-37 advantage against the Sparks. Gainbridge Fieldhouse was rocking, and Indiana looked perhaps more cohesive than it had all season.

However, Los Angeles went on to hit 10 of its 14 3-pointers in the following 14-plus minutes of play.

“You don’t give yourself a chance … You can’t do something right for two and a half quarters and then just stop doing it,” Sides said. “ … We were going under some of the screens that were supposed to be going over. We were gambling and getting out of position.

“ … Instead of us stepping over and stopping them (and) having our teammates’ back, we’re reaching. That’s just a lack of discipline.”

Caitlin Clark sat behind the same press room table less than 10 minutes earlier with her forehead pressed against her microphone. Despite recording a WNBA career-high 30 points, she too was more concerned about the loss.

Clark said she felt like Indiana shot themselves in the foot on defense in the fourth quarter, mostly agreeing with Sides’ assessment of the late-game run by the Sparks. But Clark does feel her defense has improved through the first eight games of the season, acknowledging the criticism she has faced about that aspect of her game since joining the WNBA.

“It’s been a crazy journey,” Clark said. “ … The biggest adjustment and transition for myself is (that) you got to learn from every single game and then try to go and implement it the next day in a walkthrough and then you play the next game the day after that.”

Aliyah Boston felt the Fever did a solid job defending the 3-pointer aside from the fourth quarter, but she did acknowledge the broken coverage due to screens set by the Sparks. However, she seemed to hint at feeling like the game’s officials were not giving each team equal treatment when it came to foul calls.

“Sometimes I get certain calls on my positioning, and I was trying to ask some questions about (Los Angeles),” Boston said. “They were doing the same thing, and I was trying to figure out how sometimes I get those calls and we don’t. You’re battling, and it gets frustrating when there’s certain things for you.”

Clark was called for a technical foul late in the first quarter, and while the reasoning was initially unclear for those not on the court, Sides said after the game it came down to the Fever’s excessive chatter toward the officials. She offered up herself as the one who should be talking to the officials — the one who should be in a position to earn a technical foul.

Sparks guard Aari McDonald was awarded free throws after the foul, and between the two shots, she initially appeared to get in Clark’s face to offer a retort for the technical. However, Clark disputed this, saying McDonald had just accidentally forgotten about her second free throw and was attempting to return to her defensive assignment.

“Kind person, honestly,” Clark said about McDonald, who finished with a season-best 21 points.

Clark was later fouled by McDonald on a 3-point attempt, a call that was ultimately ruled a flagrant. By the time the final buzzer sounded, Clark went 13-of-15 from the free throw line.

Although Clark was insistent she expected the physicality that comes with professional basketball, she suggested she should have been awarded more attempts from the charity stripe against Los Angeles.

“I think everybody’s physical with me,” Clark said. “They get away with things that probably other people don’t get away with. It’s tough, but the fact of the matter is this is a very physical game.”

While the Fever ultimately fell to the one team they have beaten this season, they’ll stay in Gainbridge Fieldhouse for what could be a more challenging matchup Thursday. Indiana is set to face the Seattle Storm (4-3), a squad that previously topped the Fever 85-83 out west.

Clark feels the key to future victories for the Fever must come in the form of preventing long scoring runs, such as the crucial 28-8 second half stretch that may have cost them against the Sparks.

“That seems to be an issue for us, we can never really stop the bleeding,” Clark said, “and it’s just too much to come back from.”

Contact Kyle Smedley via email at KSmedley@Gannett.com or via X @KyleSmedley_.

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Indiana

Freshmen from Indiana show potential in UConn-Butler game: ‘Heck of a player’

Published

1 hour ago

December 17, 2025

Press Room

Freshmen from Indiana show potential in UConn-Butler game: ‘Heck of a player’

Former UConn forward, NBC Sports broadcaster Donny Marshall knows a thing or two about talented UConn guards.

The former Husky played for legendary coach Jim Calhoun and was teammates with the fifth pick in the 1996 NBA Draft, 10-time NBA All-Star Ray Allen. Watching UConn play against Butler on Tuesday night, Marshall said he sees a lot of Allen in reigning Indiana Mr. Basketball Braylon Mullins.

Mullins made the second start of his career against the Bulldogs. The former Greenfield-Central star missed UConn’s first six games of the regular season with an injury, but the 6-foot-6 guard is quickly coming into his own and showing why he’s a projected lottery pick in the 2026 NBA Draft.

Against Butler, Mullins showed off his sweet jump shot, going 2 for 5 from 3-point range. He finished with 12 points, three rebounds, two assists, two blocks and one steal.

“He’s a scorer,” Butler coach Thad Matta said of Mullins. “He’s got a scorer’s mentality. He gets his shot off quick. They move him around and create some angles for him. Obviously, he’s a heck of a player.”

Mullins did most of his damage in the first half, scoring eight of his 12 points before halftime. The former five-star recruit was the highest-ranked player in UConn’s 2025 class. Butler’s top-ranked recruit, Azavier “Stink” Robinson isn’t the NBA prospect Mullins is, but he held his own after a shaky start to the game.

Robinson has been thrust into the starting lineup with starter Jalen Jackson out for the season with an ankle injury. Robinson looked out of sorts at times in the first half, going scoreless with two assists and a turnover. In the second half, Matta moved him off the ball, giving him catch-and-shoot looks, and opportunities to drive to the basket without worrying about running the offense.

The former Lawrence North star responded with one of the better halves of his career, scoring 10 points on 3 for 6 shooting, including 2 for 5 from 3 to go along with two rebounds, one assist, one steal and one turnover.

Facing a veteran team like UConn, nothing comes easy. UConn’s guards harass ball handlers and getting into an offensive set is not easy. This time last year, Robinson was still in high school and, on most nights, the most athletic player on the court. Playing a UConn team where the goal is a national championship, Robinson was forced to grow, and he did not back down from the challenge in the second half.

“He’s coming along,” Matta said of Robinson. “That’s the first Big East road game of his career against maybe the best team in the country. It tells you how tough he is. He’s resilient. He keeps going.”

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Indiana

Indiana's Curt Cignetti becomes the first back-to-back winner of AP coach of the year

Published

13 hours ago

December 16, 2025

Press Room

Indiana's Curt Cignetti becomes the first back-to-back winner of AP coach of the year

Curt Cignetti has been named The Associated Press coach of the year in college football for the second consecutive season. He is the first coach to win the award back-to-back since it was first presented in 1998. Cignetti has led Indiana to unprecedented success, with a 24-2 record over two seasons. The Hoosiers are 13-0 this year, Big Ten champions for the first time since 1967, and the top seed in the College Football Playoff. Cignetti received 47 first-place votes. Texas Tech’s Joey McGuire and Vanderbilt’s Clark Lea received two each, and Virginia’s Tony Elliott got one.

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Central Indiana schools announce closures, delays planned for Tuesday

Published

1 day ago

December 16, 2025

Press Room

Central Indiana schools announce closures, delays planned for Tuesday

INDIANAPOLIS — Some schools in central Indiana are planning to close or delay the start of their classes on Tuesday.

The closures and delays come in the wake of a difficult weekend of severe winter weather in the Hoosier State. On Saturday, a wintry system dumped more than six inches of snow in some portions of the state.

Points north of Indianapolis like Lafayette received between three and four inches of snow. Towns south of the Circle City like Seymour saw similar snowfall totals. As for Indianapolis itself, more than five inches of snow were recorded in some portions of the city.

After Saturday’s snow, frigid temperatures took hold in the area. A Cold Weather Advisory was issued for much of the state as wind chill values dipped well below zero.

The cold and snow triggered a bevy of school closings and delays for Monday. Schools began to announce delays and closures for Tuesday late Monday night as snow removal crews across the state continued to try to keep roadways clear.

Though some schools plan to close or delay the start of classes on Tuesday, temperature improvements are forecasted. High temperatures are anticipated to exceed the 32-degree freezing threshold and hit 36 degrees. The warming trend is expected to continue on both Wednesday and Thursday, with high temperatures forecasted to reach 40 and 50 degrees, respectively.

Precipitation is forecasted for Thursday, though temperatures are expected to remain warm enough for Indiana to get rain instead of snow.

FOX59/CBS4 is tracking the closures and delays schools plan to implement on Tuesday. Check out the latest available list of closings below:

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