“Didn't feel fair on Hailey": Analyst Andraya Carter defends LSU guard amid criticism for poor defense against $3.1M NIL-valued Caitlin Clark

Andraya Carter is defending Hailey Van Lith after she received criticism for her poor defense against Caitlin Clark.

LSU was playing Iowa in the Elite Eight on Monday in a highly-anticipated bout. Heading into the game, Van Lith was tasked with guarding Clark, who has a reported $3.1 million NIL valuation by ON3.

Unfortunately, Van Lith struggled in that role as Clark had a game-high 41 points, but Andraya Carter is defending the LSU guard.

"The decision for Hailey Van Lith to be the primary defender on Caitlin Clark, at times felt criminal to me. Caitlin was already in her bag, look at this, the retreat dribble over a high elevation of Angle Reese. Caitlin Clark got started so early there was no stopping her. Here she makes a play anticipating on the defense, look at all the eyes on Caitlin Clark, three players turn their heads, they don't even see Sydney Affolter and who finds her, Caitlin Clark."

"All eyes are on Caitlin and Caitlin's eyes are on her teammates. This is the matchup I'm talking about, this is just a tough coverage, Hailey Van Liht is 5'7", Caitlin is 6 foot, Hailey is like I don't know what you want me to do. At this point, it didn't feel fair to Hailey to leave her on an island like that. Not only was Hailey on Caitlin, but post players weren't coming up so you had a mismatch."

As Andrya Carter says, Hailey Van Lith was tasked with a near-impossible task, and defending Caitlin Clark on her own was too tough to do.

Fans take aim at Hailey Van Lith

After Caitlin Clark scored 41 points, fans took to social media to blast Hailey Van Lith for her defense.

It wasn't a surprise to see fans take shots at Van Lith, but her teammates defended her after the game.

LSU head coach Kim Mulkey also said it's impossible to guard Clark as she can knock down shots from anywhere on the court.

"There is not a whole lot of strategy. You have to guard her, nobody else seems to be able to guard her. We didn't even guard her last year when we beat them. She is just a generation player, and she makes everybody around her better. That is what the great ones do."

That could also be Van Lith's final college game as she now has 48 hours to declare for the WNBA Draft.