DiJonai Carrington said she did not go all WWE and intentionally poke Caitlin Clark in the eye Sunday.
The Sun guard seemed perturbed with that narrative after being asked before Wednesday’s Game 2 whether she had purposefully poked the Fever’s rookie star during Connecticut’s 93-69 win.
Clark fell to her knees while grabbing her eye after being hit and later had a black eye, although Carrington did not receive a foul on the play.
“I don’t even know why I would intend to hit anybody in the eye. That doesn’t even make sense to me,” Carrington said during a shoot-around Tuesday. “But no, I didn’t. I didn’t know I hit her actually. I was trying to make a play on the ball and I guess I followed through and I hit her, so obviously it’s never intentional, that’s not even like the type of player that I am.”
Clark being poked in the eye by Carrington.@nba_archives/X
There has been some speculation over the last few days regarding the intent of Carrington’s play and whether there may have been any dirty intentions behind it.
The play happened early in the first quarter of the eventual blowout Sun win when Carrington went to defend a pass from Clark but hit her in the eye in her follow-through.
One of the narratives from earlier in the season centered around how opponents have been rather physical with Clark this season.
Clark did not play well after that blow, scoring just 11 points on 4-of-17 shooting, including 2-of-13 from beyond the arc.
Clark fell to the ground after the eye poke.Mark Smith-Imagn Images
When a reporter followed up asking whether Carrington and teammate Marina Mabrey were potentially laughing about the situation later in the game, she again shut down the premise.
“No,” Carrington said. “I just told you I didn’t know I hit her, so I can’t laugh about something I didn’t know happened.”
Carrington and the Sun held Clark in check.NBAE via Getty Images
Clark also dismissed the idea of Carrington purposefully attempting to potentially injure her.
“It wasn’t intentional by any means,” Clark said Tuesday while laughing. “You just watched the play. It wasn’t intentional.”
Clark and the Fever now have to win Wednesday in Uncasville, Conn., to save their season and force a win-or-go-home Game 3 on Friday night.
The Sun are six-point favorites at DraftKings.