Caitlin Clark accused of sly behavior during wild WNBA bust-up

Caitlin Clark has been accused of 'flopping' during the wild scenes on Tuesday night which saw her shoved to the ground by opponent Marina Mabrey.

Chaos ensued in the second half of the Fever's matchup with the Sun, after Clark was poked in the eye by Connecticut's Jacy Sheldon. The Indiana star then pushed Sheldon back in return before Mabrey rushed to the scene and hip-checked Clark to the floor.

But while Mabrey later saw her technical foul on the play upgraded to a flagrant two by the WNBA, Outkick's Dan Dakich believes that Clark exaggerated the contact from her rival.

'Referees are under no obligation to step in and protect Clark. Clark flopped,' Dakich said on his 'Don't @ Me' podcast.

'Mabrey did what good teammates do. Gave [Clark] a little shot. Should Mabrey have been thrown out? I don't know… The truth of the matter is Clark flopped… her a** off. Technical foul on Mabrey… no ejection, good.'

Clark clearly took issue with the (seemingly accidental) eye poke from Sheldon, though tension had been building between the pair from earlier in the game.

In another tense moment, Clark fired off a volatile message after Sheldon appeared to say: 'You can't do that.'

'I can do whatever the f*** I want to do,' Clark said to Sheldon before shoving her away.

Mabrey quickly stepped in and gave a little shove to Clark as she walked away from the confrontation. But no technical fouls were called in that exchange.

Ultimately, Dakich defended Sheldon's approach to guarding the reigning Rookie of the Year. 

'[If] I'm out there playing [and] I'm guarding her a**, why do I care about record viewership? I'm competing. That's what I thought this young lady Sheldon was doing. I did. I thought Sheldon was competing her a** off. I thought she was guarding hard.'

The former Bowling Green basketball coach later said: 'I thought Clark did what Clark does: flop, instigate, then run away. That's what she does. People can get mad about it, and I know she's the holy grail for everything, including our show, but I gotta tell you, that's what she does.'

While Clark missed five games due to a quad injury, it seems the physical treatment that she experienced during her rookie season has carried into her sophomore year.

However, Sheldon later found herself on the wrong end of a hard foul as well towards the end of the game.

As Sheldon raced towards the hoop after a steal, Clark's teammate Sophie Cunningham wrapped her arms around Sheldon's head and pulled her by her neck to the ground.

Another large scuffle ensued, with Cunningham, Sheldon and Connecticut's Lindsay Allen ultimately ejected.