Caitlin Clark wasn't playing during the Indiana Fever's win over the Chicago Sky on Saturday night, but Dawn Staley still expected a big performance from the reigning Rookie of the Year.

In their fourth game without Clark, who is still tending to a quad injury, the Fever took care of business against the Sky, jumping out to a 29-point lead by the fourth quarter and going on to win, 79-52. Indiana led for the entire game and were buoyed by the efficient shooting nights of Kelsey Mitchell (17 points) and Natasha Howard (13 points).

Prior to the Fever's win, Staley joined a WNBA pregame show to discuss the Fever-Sky matchup and was asked what she would be looking for during the game.

"I'm going to be locked in on Caitlin Clark as an assistant coach," Staley said. "The animated Caitlin Clark assistant coach. She's probably going to be saying, 'Get Aliyah [Boston] the ball.'"

Sure enough, as the Gamecocks coach predicted, Clark could be seen coaching up her teammates during timeouts and expressing her very enthusiastic reactions to plays on the court during the Fever's victory.

Staley has the first-hand experience of going up against Clark twice in college, once in the 2023 semifinals when Iowa upset South Carolina and again in the 2024 national title game when South Carolina beat Iowa for the championship.

Staley has since admitted that 2023 Final Four loss to Iowa was the toughest loss of her coaching career. She also issued high praise to Clark and offered her honest thoughts on what the Fever star could accomplish in the WNBA.

"I would say Caitlin Clark will go down as probably one of the best players to ever grace the league," Staley said. "And she's going to probably do it in half of the time that it it takes any other great player."

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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Dawn Staley Had Priceless Line About How Caitlin Clark Would Impact Fever-Sky Game.

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