Caitlin Clark’s boyfriend, Connor McCaffery, calls athlete his ‘GOAT’ after Iowa loses NCAA championship

Caitlin Clark’s boyfriend shared his support for the athlete after the Iowa Hawkeyes’ women’s basketball team lost the 2024 NCAA national championship game in Cleveland on Sunday.

Taking to his Instagram Story, Connor McCaffery posted a photo of the hoop star walking off the court with her head held high following her team’s 87-75 loss to the South Carolina Gamecocks.

“My GOAT,” he wrote above the sporty snap, using the acronym that stands for “Greatest Of All Time.”

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McCaffery – who is the son of Iowa head coach Fran McCaffery and Margaret McCaffery – tagged the headline-making point guard and included several red hearts and heart-hand emojis along with his post.

Clark, 22, re-posted her boyfriend’s sweet message to her Instagram after coming up short on Sunday.

“It’s really hard to win these things. I think I probably know that better than most people by now,” Clark said post-game. “To be so close twice, it definitely hurts. But at the same time, we were right there. We battled. We took down some really great teams to get back to this point and [did] something that’s really hard to do.”

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It’s unclear when Clark and Connor first started dating, but they went public with their relationship via Instagram in August 2023.

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At the time, Clark shared a photo on social media that showed the two college athletes on a boat with the caption, “Best end to summer.”

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Along with her loving boyfriend, Clark has captured the hearts of the entire nation during March Madness 2024.

The Des Moines, Iowa, native is the NCAA’s Division-I all-time leading scorer (in both men’s and women’s basketball) and is projected to be the No.1 overall selection in the 2024 WNBA Draft.

Clark finished the season with 30 points, eight rebounds and five assists in the Hawkeyes’ face-off against the Gamecocks, who remained undefeated this season with a perfect record of 38-0.

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Last week, Clark helped her team set another record when Iowa’s Final Four matchup game against UConn became the most-watched basketball game in ESPN history with 12.3 million viewers. The game was also the highest-viewed NCAA Women’s basketball game and the most-watched college event ever.

Even Gamecocks head coach Dawn Staley applauded Clark while accepting her team’s trophy Sunday.

“I want to personally thank Caitlin Clark for lifting up our sport,” Staley, 53, said. “She carried a heavy load for our sport. You are one of the GOATs of our Games and we appreciate you.”