WVU’s Mark Kellogg Downplays Jab at Iowa’s Caitlin Clark: ‘I Wasn’t Out to Get’ Her

Erin WalshMarch 22, 2024

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Caitlin Clark is the best women’s basketball player in the NCAA, so when an opposing coach takes a jab at the Iowa Hawkeyes star, people take notice.

Earlier this week, West Virginia women’s basketball coach Mark Kellogg seemingly took a shot at Clark after finding out the Mountaineers would be heading to the NCAA Tournament as a No. 8 seed in Iowa, saying, “Let’s win one and then send Caitlin Clark packing.”

Ahead of WVU’s matchup against No. 9-seeded Princeton on Saturday at Carver-Hawkeye Arena, Kellogg seemingly walked back his remarks while meeting with reporters on Friday.

“I’m not a [trash-talker] … I wasn’t out to get Caitlin Clark. It’s not Mark Kellogg versus Caitlin Clark,” Kellogg said, per ESPN’s Michael Voepel. “With our seed is honestly where it started. That wasn’t really the seed maybe that some people in the room were expecting, not even from me necessarily. So it turned into, ‘OK, well, let’s get past that. Now let’s talk about Princeton.’ Then, of course, everybody in the room knows Caitlin Clark.”

Iowa earned a No. 1 seed after going 29-4 during the regular season. The Hawkeyes are set to face No. 16 seed Holy Cross on Saturday in the first round.

Since debuting with the Hawkeyes as a freshman in 2020, Clark has been a huge part of Iowa’s success and she enters the NCAA Tournament looking to capture a national title before heading to the WNBA.

The NCAA’s all-time leading scorer—men’s and women’s—has accomplished just about all she could have during her collegiate career. The only thing missing is a national championship.

Clark enters the tournament averaging 31.9 points, 7.3 rebounds and 8.9 assists this season while shooting 46.0 percent from the floor and 38.1 percent from deep.

Given Clark’s highly competitive nature and star-level talent, Kellogg might regret his initial comments if the Mountaineers have to face the Hawkeyes in this year’s tournament.

“I would say our region probably has the most talent in it. But at the same time, we’re the 1-seed in that region. There’s no reason for us to shy away from anything; we can hang with every single team in the country. But also, there’s a lot of really good teams in the country that can beat us, and you better come ready to play every single night.”Our group understands that. … I don’t think any any of us would want a cakewalk to the Final Four. That’s not how this works. It’s not how it worked last year. … We had to find ways to be resilient to get to where we wanted to go.”In addition to Iowa, the other big title contenders on the women’s side include No. 1-seeded South Carolina, which thrashed No. 16 Presbyterian 91-39 on Friday in the first round, No. 3-seed LSU, No. 2 seed Stanford and No. 1 seed USC.