Caitlin Clark and the United States close out group play at the FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup against Czechia on Monday, September 7. Tip is at 2:45 p.m. ET at Berlin Arena, with coverage starting at 2:30 p.m. on TNT and truTV. Every game streams on HBO Max. The Americans are 2-0 and have already clinched Group D, so this one decides nothing.
| Tip time | 2:45 p.m. ET, Monday, September 7, 2026 |
| Coverage starts | 2:30 p.m. ET, 15 minutes before tip |
| TV channel | TNT and truTV |
| Streaming | HBO Max carries all 36 games. Sling and other TNT carriers work if you have the channel |
| Venue | Berlin Arena, Berlin, Germany |
| What is at stake | Nothing. The United States already won Group D and is in the quarterfinals |
What time is the game in your time zone?
| Time zone | Tip | Coverage starts |
|---|---|---|
| Eastern | 2:45 p.m. | 2:30 p.m. |
| Central | 1:45 p.m. | 1:30 p.m. |
| Mountain | 12:45 p.m. | 12:30 p.m. |
| Pacific and Arizona | 11:45 a.m. | 11:30 a.m. |
| Berlin, local | 8:45 p.m. | 8:30 p.m. |
Berlin is six hours ahead of Eastern time. Arizona does not observe daylight saving, so it matches Pacific in September.
Will Caitlin Clark play against Czechia?
That is the real question, and there has been no announcement either way. The case for holding her back is obvious: the United States has already won the group, Czechia is 0-2 and eliminated, and the quarterfinal is Thursday. The case against it is that Clark scored one point on Sunday and the team as a whole shot 29 percent, so there is an argument for playing the rotation into some rhythm before the knockout round rather than sitting on three days of rest and a bad performance.
Kara Lawson has brought Clark off the bench in both games, with Chelsea Gray starting at point guard, the same arrangement Gray had at the Paris Olympics. If minutes get managed on Monday, expect it to show up as a short first half rather than a full absence.
Caitlin Clark at this World Cup so far
| Game | Result | Pts | Ast | Reb |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sept. 4 vs. China | W 94-61 | 14 | 11 | 3 |
| Sept. 6 vs. Italy | W 55-52 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| Sept. 7 vs. Czechia | 2:45 p.m. ET | — | — | — |
The China game was a genuine landmark. Clark came off the bench for 14 points on 4 of 9 shooting with 11 assists and zero turnovers, a plus 30 that led the game, and FIBA’s Player of the Game award. Against Italy she was 0 for 6 from the field, 0 for 3 from three, and her single point came at the free throw line, alongside four rebounds, two steals and one assist. Full breakdown on our Caitlin Clark World Cup stats page.
Czechia or the Czech Republic? Same Team
Both names are right. Czechia is the short form official name the country adopted in 2016, and it is what FIBA, the Associated Press and the tournament broadcast use. Plenty of American outlets and reference sites still list the national team as the Czech Republic. There is no second Czech team at this World Cup. If you went looking for one name and landed on the other, this is the game you want.
Group D Going Into the Final Day
| Team | W-L | Point diff | Where they stand |
|---|---|---|---|
| United States | 2-0 | +36 | Straight to the quarterfinals |
| Italy | 1-1 | +6 | Qualification round |
| China | 1-1 | -29 | Qualification round |
| Czech Republic | 0-2 | -13 | Eliminated |
The Czechs have been closer than an 0-2 record suggests. They led Italy 45-44 late in the third quarter of the opener before an 8-0 Italian run, capped by a Matilde Villa three at the buzzer, put the game away. On Sunday they took China to overtime and lost 74-70. Two losses by a combined 13 points is the best point differential of anyone in this group other than the Americans and the Italians.
What to know about Czechia
Czechia is 0-2 and eliminated, and is at the World Cup for the first time since 2014. This is only the third appearance in the country’s history, and the last one went well: the Czechs were the runners up in 2014. They come in ranked 17th in the world and qualified through a March qualifying tournament rather than automatically.
For scale, the United States is playing its 19th World Cup, has made 19 appearances including the last 17 in a row, and has won eleven titles, the most recent four of them in a row.
The Czechs have kept it respectable, with a points differential of minus 13 across the two defeats, which is a better mark than China’s minus 29. That will not matter much against an American team that beat China by 33.
What happens after this
The United States goes straight to the quarterfinals on Thursday, September 10, as the Group D winner. The teams that finish second and third in each group play a single elimination qualification round on September 8 and 9 for the other four quarterfinal places, so the American opponent will not be known until Wednesday. Semifinals are Saturday, September 12, and the final is Sunday, September 13 at 2 p.m. ET on TNT.
The Americans have won 32 consecutive World Cup games going back to a 2006 semifinal loss, and they are chasing a fifth straight title and a 12th overall.
The bottom line
Team USA vs. Czechia tips at 2:45 p.m. ET on Monday, September 7, with coverage from 2:30 p.m. on TNT and truTV and streaming on HBO Max. Group D is already won, Czechia is already out, and the only thing genuinely worth watching for is how Kara Lawson uses her rotation, and Caitlin Clark in particular, three days before a quarterfinal.