Caitlin Clark's 'very disrespectful' defense against South Carolina is motivating LSU in the national championship game

• Iowa's Caitlin Clark played lax defense against South Carolina's guards in the Final Four.
• LSU point guard Alexis Morris and other Tigers players called the move "very disrespectful."

Iowa superstar Caitlin Clark played noticeably lax defense against the then-undefeated South Carolina Gamecocks in the Final Four.

And LSU Tigers players — who face Clark and her Hawkeyes in Sunday's national championship game — found Clark's antics "very disrespectful."

"Me personally, I find it very disrespectful," LSU guard Alexis Morris told ESPN Saturday. "So I'm going to take that personally going into that game."

"You're going to have to guard us," she added. "That's just the competitor in me, and the will to win."

When tasked with defending freshman Gamecocks guard Raven Johnson, Clark guarded her from a considerable distance. At one point when Johnson had the ball outside the three-point line during Friday night's contest, the 6-foot Iowa point guard waved her hand dismissively and continued to double-team South Carolina's bigs in the paint.

"I watched the game, and I'm watching them guard South Carolina," Morris said. "I don't think they can guard us that way."

"I don't think you can just leave me open on the perimeter or leave us open on the perimeter," she added.

She's likely right. The Tigers' backcourt has a significantly higher conversion rate from beyond the arc than the Gamecocks' guards.

Morris has averaged 32.9% shooting from range this season. SEC Freshman of the Year Flau'jae Johnson, meanwhile, makes 33.3% of her threes, while fellow starting guard Kateri Poole has shot 43.3% from behind the line on the season.

"That was very disrespectful, and [South Carolina] didn't take advantage of that," LSU guard Kateri Poole told ESPN. "If they do it to us, we're going to take advantage."

By contrast, several of South Carolina's guards shot less than 30% from range on the year. Johnson, whom Clark defended from a distance throughout the Hawkeyes' Final Four upset, averaged a paltry 24.1% from three this season.

"We're not going to guard LSU the same way we guarded South Carolina," Clark said during her press conference Saturday. "Obviously, with South Carolina, you've got to pick your poison. If they were going to beat us, we were going to let it be by the 3-point line. You have to pick and choose your battles."

"We had all the respect in the world for South Carolina, and especially their post play," she added.