Caitlin Clark’s home debut a rough welcome thanks to Liberty rout

INDIANAPOLIS — The night started off exactly as anticipated.

Fans inside Gainbridge Fieldhouse erupted by the time Caitlin Clark was introduced before the Fever’s home opener against the Liberty.

There were the smaller, homemade signs from fans crowding near the end of the stands to watch her warm-ups.

The No. 22 jerseys, the roar that never seemed to subside pregame, the anticipation that started well before tipoff. All of it.

But for as much as the buildup to Thursday’s game provided a glimpse of the jolt Clark will give both the Fever and the WNBA, the 40 minutes that followed in the Liberty’s 102-66 win — in front of an announced sellout of 17,274 — captured just how difficult the rookie’s transition will still be.

Clark, the No. 1 overall pick, scored two points on 1-for-5 shooting in the first half and finished with nine.

She has compiled just 29 points through two games — a number she reached in a single game 25 times with Iowa last season.

Breanna Stewart rebounds in big way for Liberty after opening-night dud

Liberty guard Betnijah Laney-Hamilton set a team record with a plus-43 while often guarding Clark.

“Caitlin demands so much respect out there and attention, and that’s what we did,” Liberty coach Sandy Brondello said following the game, “And we have Betnijah Laney. What more could you ask? One of the best defenders in this league, if not the best.”

There were flashes of Clark’s vintage form, such as when she connected on a step-back 3-pointer with just over 90 seconds remaining in the third quarter or when she scored seven of the Fever’s final nine points to close that frame.

She maneuvered passes to cutting teammates and drew fouls while driving, too.

But it still resulted in an underwhelming stat line and wasn’t enough when Breanna Stewart scored 31 points, Sabrina Ionescu added 14 and Jonquel Jones produced a double-double.

The Liberty (2-0) started a modest winning streak to open their 2024 campaign, while Clark — who scored 20 points and committed 10 turnovers in her debut Tuesday — struggled for a second consecutive game to spoil the celebration at Gainbridge.

Caitlin Clark’s Fever home debut came with a signature 3-pointer

“Hopefully looking back, like my 10 turnovers will be something that I can laugh about when my career ends and hopefully I clean it up a little bit,” Clark said before the game.

She committed just three turnovers against the Liberty and spent most of the second half in foul trouble after picking up her fourth just 30 seconds into the third quarter.

Later in the frame, Clark hit her 3-pointer after creating space against Courtney Vandersloot and added the free throws, but she missed both of her shots in the fourth before exiting with 3:16 remaining and the Liberty ahead by 29.

“We can do a better job of trying to help her get some space and help her get some freedom,” Fever forward Katie Lou Samuelson said of Clark, “but we trust her. We want to keep figuring out how to work with her in the best way.”

Still, more than anything, this was Clark’s home opener, and the palpable enthusiasm oozing throughout the arena transcended her numbers.

She could sense that even while driving to the arena.

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She saw the fans, the ones who were part of a collective group that immediately bought season tickets after the Fever (0-2) secured the No. 1 overall pick and Clark declared for the WNBA draft after her record-setting senior season with the Hawkeyes.

And she even got to play against Ionescu, the former Oregon star who hosted Clark and her father, Brent, on her recruiting visit with the Ducks and who Clark watched on the Pac-12 network while in high school.

“It’s just like a great buzz, people are excited,” Clark said pregame. “For me, it’s fun. You look around, you soak it in and you can’t really script it any better.”

Tucked on the other side of Monument Circle and Meridian Street, a 10-minute walk from the fieldhouse across the sidewalks that’ll be filled with Clark’s No. 22 for years to come, a Gatorade banner was tacked to the Hyatt Regency hotel .

If there was anything that captured what has descended on the city since the WNBA draft, that massive poster was it.

It stretched floor after floor after floor up the hotel’s exterior.

On it Clark held a Gatorade towel around her neck with the message, “It is just getting started” printed across it — a fitting tone ahead of the night.

The Caitlin Clark Show — an extension of what transpired across her years with the Hawkeyes and a preview of what will likely follow for as long as she remains with the Fever — had begun in Indiana, even if it started with a setback.

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