The Clark–Reese rivalry began in the 2023 NCAA championship game, when Angel Reese's LSU Tigers defeated Caitlin Clark's Iowa Hawkeyes, with Reese taunting Clark with a "you can't see me" gesture. The rivalry intensified in the 2024 NCAA tournament's Elite Eight, where Clark scored 41 points to lead Iowa to a record-setting rematch victory over LSU, drawing 12.3 million viewers. Pundits credit this matchup for a massive surge in interest in women's basketball, both in college and the WNBA, while also sparking widespread media discussion about its racial undertones. Both stars entered the WNBA in 2024, with Clark drafted first overall by the Indiana Fever and Reese seventh by the Chicago Sky. In their first WNBA meeting on June 1, 2024, the Fever won, but the game was marred by a hard foul on Clark and Reese's subsequent applause from the bench, leading to a $1,000 fine for Reese for skipping the post-game press conference. Reese later addressed the league's popularity surge, asserting that the increased viewership was "not just because of one person," highlighting the broader impact of their rivalry.