2-Time Olympic Gold Medalist Condemns Caitlin Clark For Crashing Out at Team USA
Women's basketball fans were eager to watch Caitlin Clark competing for Team USA during the FIBA Women's World Cup Qualifying Tournament earlier this week, after she hadn't played in about eight months, first because of an injury and then because it was the WNBA offseason.
Of course, fans were most eager to see Clark draining deep threes and making extraordinary passes to her teammates. But that isn't the only aspect of No. 22's return that was appealing to spectators. She plays the game with a passion and a fire that is relatively unmatched in the women's game, which has added to her star power.
Sometimes this passion is directed toward referees when she doesn't get a foul call that she believed was warranted. While this has gotten Clark into trouble at times in that form of technical fouls, seeing her occasional crash-outs is an element that fans savor because it shows how much she cares.
Analyst Calls Out Caitlin Clark’s Reaction To Refs At Team USA
Five-time WNBA All-Star, two-time WNBA scoring champion, and two-time Olympic gold medalist Angel McCoughtry shared an interesting stance on Clark's Team USA crash-outs during a March 19 episode of her "Court Vision" podcast.
"Caitlin kind of crashes out on the ref at USA basketball. You guys know I would crash out on the refs a lot. One thing Geno told us at USA basketball, he said, 'Listen, you guys are going to go out here and win gold for your country.' He's like, 'You're not going to have all the endorsements like the men.' And we didn't. But he said, 'You go out there, and you win gold for your country anyway.' And we were like, 'Yeah, let's go out there and win gold!'
"They have [the endorsements] now. They will be on the Wheaties box," McCoughtry continued. "Caitlin, it was a bad call. But right now, you're going to be on the Wheaties box. Who cares if you miss one? You're wearing USA on your chest. It's a bigger stage; the whole world is watching. Kind of be like, 'Okay.' Give a little shrug, and be like, 'I'm gonna get this next one.'"
McCoughtry's co-host, Ros Gold-Onwude, then added, "That is really interesting. I had not even considered it that way. My initial reaction was like, 'Well, all is well in women's basketball, Caitlin's fired up!' You know, Caitlin's crashing out, that's part of it.'
Do you agree with Angel's take on Caitlin Clark's crash outs? pic.twitter.com/5LM87t4FSl
— Just Women’s Sports (@justwsports) March 19, 2026
Onw would imagine that these comments from McCoughtry will inspire some strong reactions.
Grant Young covers Women’s Basketball, the New York Yankees, and the New York Mets for Sports Illustrated’s ‘On SI’ sites. He holds an MFA degree in creative writing from the University of San Francisco (USF), where he also graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing and played on USF’s Division I baseball team for five years. However, he now prefers Angel Reese to Angels in the Outfield.
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