Hailey Van Lith's reaction to Caitlin Clark perfectly sums up Iowa star's sensational showing vs. LSU

Bryan Murphy

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Hailey Van Lith's reaction to Caitlin Clark perfectly sums up Iowa star's sensational showing vs. LSU image

Trae Young called it the reverse Michael Jordan shrug meme. Others are calling it the Caitlin Clark effect. 

For Hailey Van Lith, Kim Mulkey and LSU, let's call it a tough day at the office. 

Mulkey's defensive strategy for the greatest scorer ever to grace a college basketball court was, for the most part, to leave Van Lith on an island against Clark. The 5-7 grad transfer from Louisville did her best to try and track Clark, shadowing the Iowa sensation for a majority of the night. 

The result? Clark poured in 41 points on 13-of-29 shooting (8-of-16 from beyond the arc) en route to the Hawkeyes' win over the Tigers in the Elite Eight. And all Van Lith could do was shrug. 

She wasn't the only one. Tigers forward Angel Reese had a similar reaction when she tried to get a hand in the face of a Clark shot. Her efforts didn't matter, as Reese watched the long range attempt swish into the basket. 

Clark wasn't fazed by anything Mulkey and Co. threw at her. She was able to get separation off screens, pull up in transition or handle her way into space to get shots off. And as we have seen all season long, there is no shot that Clark isn't willing to take. 

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"I won some possessions and she won some possessions," Van Lith said after the loss. "She's very crafty and they put her in good stuff to where certain people have to switch on her. Kudos to their coach and their system, so it is what it is. She hit some tough shots that we were kind of willing to give her. And we let the others (players) score too much.

"Caitlin Clark was really good today."

Mulkey also praised Clark after she bounced the Tigers' shot at a repeat. In the handshake line, the LSU coach said she told the Iowa senior, "I sure am glad you're leaving. Girl you’re something else. Never seen anything like it." 

The flowers from the LSU coach did not stop there, as she continued to pile on her compliments during Monday's postgame press conference. 

MORE: Inside Caitlin Clark's record-setting Elite Eight win over LSU

"Well, there's not a lot of strategy. You've got to guard her," Mulkey said on LSU's approach to guarding Clark. "Nobody else seems to be able to guard her. We didn't even guard her last year when we beat them.

"She's just a generational player, and she just makes everybody around her better. That's what the great ones do."

Hailey Van Lith meme

The internet is a ruthless place. There is little sympathy on social media, even during players' most vulnerable moments. 

So it's not surprising to see Van Lith's shrug quickly turned itself into a meme, and the internet had a field day with it. 

Bryan Murphy

Bryan Murphy Photo

Bryan Murphy joined The Sporting News in 2022 as the NHL/Canada content producer. Previously he worked for NBC Sports on their national news desk reporting on breaking news for the NFL, MLB, NBA and NHL, in addition to covering the 2020 and 2022 Olympic Games. A graduate of Quinnipiac University, he spent time in college as a beat reporter covering the men’s ice hockey team.