Caitlin Clark was caught checking her phone in the stands as she once again made her way to a Butler home game. The WNBA Rookie of the Year skipped the chance to watch her favorite NFL team, the Kansas City Chiefs in action against the Houston Texans, to cheer for her boyfriend, Conor McCaffrey’s team as they tried to stop their recent run of bad form. But her presence, so often the source of good luck, couldn’t help the Bulldogs arrest their slide.

After going 7-1, they have now lost five on the bounce with their latest outing resulting in a painful but close 74-78 defeat by the No. 11 ranked (and two-time defending NCAA Champion) UConn Huskies. The Huskies stormed to a 16-point lead, but a fightback from the Bulldogs trimmed it to only a three-point deficit. However, Dan Hurley’s side went into the break with a 9-point advantage. In the second half, Butler continued to fight back even after the Huskies went ahead with a 14-point gap. They even managed to tie the game at 63 points with less than five minutes remaining and were sniffing a win. But Huskies’ Alex Karaban had other plans.

Karaban broke the Bulldogs’ ranks with threes in the closing minutes and a pair of free throws from point guard Hassan Diara gave them a four-point lead with seconds left. The Huskies eventually held off the Bulldogs for a sixth straight win. A sore sight for the WNBA’s Rookie of the Year to witness McCaffery feeling the heat now as his team remained winless at 0-2 in Big East competition. Clark was at the Hinkle Fieldhouse on Saturday wearing a Bulldogs cap and was also joined by future Bulldog and Connor’s brother Jack in the stands.

During the game, it was noticed that Clark kept her head down and was scrolling her phone quite often. This led many to believe that she was keeping tabs on the events at Arrowfield. The Patrick Mahomes led side eventually came out on top 27-19, to strengthen their grip on the AFC West. But Butler are still looking to come out of their rut.

There were some positives for Butler with 7-ft-1 center Andre Screen having a double-double (17 points and 10 rebounds) while Patrick McCaffrey added 17 points, and Pierre Brooks 13.

But they were thwarted by Karaban’s game-high 21 points and Connor McNeeley’s 17-point, 7-assist performance. While Clark was also in attendance during the second game of the season when the Bulldogs fell narrowly to Austin Peay, this defeat was more painful and prolonged their losing run. Perhaps, Caitlin Clark’s run as the team’s lucky charm is coming to an end.

This is the second narrow defeat the Bulldogs have suffered during their poor run of form. They fell to ND State 68-71 a couple of weeks ago and will enter the holiday with a 7-6 record. This break will be the time for the Bulldogs to regroup and find their rhythm when they return to action in the new year.

As for Clark and Connor, they will be eager to spend some time together over the festive season. Both individuals have been supportive of each other and Clark has usually made it to the Butler games this season. This is no surprise given how excited she was when Connor was named as the team’s assistant coach and looked forward to attending games.

Caitlin Clark expressed her pride for her boyfriend’s new role

Connor McCaffrey replaced Greg Oden as the assistant coach at Butler in September. Clark, who was in the middle of the WNBA season expressed her delight at her boyfriend landing the role under HC Thad Matta.

“Yeah, I’m super excited for him…So, yeah I think just super proud. He worked super hard for that. It’ll be fun, fun to go to those games. I mean, I love college basketball. Obviously, he’s been around it his whole life and really like invested a lot into it,” Clark said.

The Indiana Fever star made sure to be present for her boyfriend’s debut game as an assistant coach and has been a constant presence in the stands, cheering them on. Though she maintains her loyalty to the Iowa Hawkeyes, she has added Butler to her list of teams she is going to support.

Connor McCaffrey and the Butler fans would now hope that they are able to end their dismal run and start winning again in the new year. Maybe, having Clark share a tip or two won’t do any harm either.