Major technical difficulties prevent Buffalo from watching Caitlin Clark pass Pete Maravich for NCAA scoring record
A massive audience likely took in the final regular-season game in the career of Caitlin Clark on FOX this afternoon. Not everyone got to catch the afternoon’s historic moment, though, due to technical difficulties.
WUTV, the channel’s affiliate for Buffalo, New York, froze with just seconds to go before halftime. It didn’t reconnect until the halftime interview with Clark as Iowa and Ohio State went to break. That meant that audience missed the two free throws that put the Hawkeyes up nine at halftime but, more importantly, the ones that put Clark atop the all-time scoring list in collegiate history.
The broadcast froze for at least some viewers for 4:47. The game clock was at 23.2 seconds when it went on the fritz. It then didn’t return until both teams were heading to the locker room. For reference, Clark’s record-breaking shots at the charity stripe took place at 00.3 seconds left in the half.
Clark scored the necessary 18 points in the first 20 minutes before eventually finishing the game with 35. That total now gives her 3,685 points in her career to pass the former record of Pete Maravich at 3,667. She had broken the women’s record, previously held by Kelsey Plum, just over two weeks ago with a career-high of 49 points.
Adding this achievement to her resumé was quite the way to send Clark out from her Senior Day inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena. With her announcement earlier this week that she’d be foregoing her potential final season to enter the WNBA Draft, she will now play her final games with the program as they enter the Big Ten Tournament as one of its top seeds as well as a high seed in the NCAA Tournament.
The nation will continue to tune in as Clark competes in her final postseason and further adds to her legend. Buffalo will just hope to catch the final bits of it as well considering how some unfortunately missed today’s moment.
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Nike releases tribute video, special edition merchandise for Caitlin Clark
Nike came ready for Caitlin Clark to make history on Sunday.
In the final second of the first half, the Iowa star hit two free throws to pass Pete Maravich’s scoring record and become the NCAA’s all-time scoring champ. As one of the sportswear and sneaker giant’s major NIL ambassadors, Nike did not waste any time paying tribute to the face of college basketball.
On top of Nike billboards spread throughout Iowa City, the brand aired a 50-second TV spot entering halftime that has since gone viral on social media. The video honors Clark by breaking down all of her top honors throughout her career, capped off by being the new owner of the all-time NCAA scoring record.
Nike is also capitalizing on the moment through its apparel. The company released merchandise on Sunday afternoon with the slogan “This was never a long shot.” T-shirts and long-sleeve shirts are available on Fanatics starting at $34.99. Thanks to NIL, Clark will earn a percentage of those sales.
When she surpassed Kelsey Plum’s women’s NCAA scoring title last month, more Clark-branded merchandise was sold in less than 24 hours than any other individual men’s or women’s NIL college athlete across all sports since 2022 when NIL merchandise began. She also became Fanatics’ top-selling college athlete in the NIL Era. In doing so, she passed the previous high seller in Colorado QB Shedeur Sanders.