Tag: Skyy Clark

Skyy Clark reveals why he chose UCLA in transfer portal

Skyy Clark is back in LA.

The UCLA Bruins men’s basketball team landed a huge addition in the transfer portal. Louisville guard Skyy Clark made his decision final on the same day he took a visit to Westwood.

Clark began his career at Illinois and spent this past season at Louisville. However, with Kenny Payne leaving, a flurry of Cardinals players entered the portal, and now the Los Angeles native returns back home to play for Mick Cronin’s team.

After the decision was announced, Clark revealed why he chose UCLA instead of others, per Joe Tipton of On3.

“It’s home,” Clark said. “I was raised in LA. I was recruited by Cronin and the coaching staff in the past and I trust in their vision for the team and for me.”

Clark had UCLA originally in his final four programs before he chose to go to North Carolina and then later head to Illinois, where he played in just a handful of games.

Nonetheless, Clark is back in LA and is a huge addition to the program as they gear up to transition to the Big Ten.

Photos from new UCLA guard Skyy Clark’s time at Louisville, Illinois

Skyy Clark through the college years.

The UCLA Bruins men’s basketball team landed its first major commitment in the transfer portal season. On Wednesday, Louisville guard Skyy Clark took a visit to Westwood and then officially announced his decision to transfer on the same day.

Clark joining the Bruins is a massive addition to Mick Cronin’s team. Clark is from California and spent one year in Illinois before going to Louisville. This season, he averaged 12.4 PPG in 31.6 minutes per and had a massive 36-point performance in the Cardinals’ final game against NC State in the ACC Tournament.

Clark brings a lot of talent to the Bruins roster, and here are photos of his time at Louisville and Illinois.

Skyy Clark commits to Louisville not longer after former team eliminated

The timing was just a coincidence. Right?

The hits keep coming for the Illinois Fighting Illini men’s basketball program.

They were eliminated from the NCAA Tournament in the Round of 64 by the Arkansas Razorbacks, 73-63. The team went into the half down by 10 and despite matching Arkansas point for point, they couldn’t close the gap. It was down to a five-point margin with 2:05 left in the game but the Hogs were too much for them.

Shortly after the game had gone final, former player Skyy Clark took to Twitter to announce that he would commit to the University of Louisville and Kenny Payne. Clark entered the transfer portal on Mar. 12 and found his new team just four days later.

Clark appeared in 13 games for the Fighting Illini averaging 7 points, 3.7 rebounds, and 2.1 assists per game. He shot 41.1% from the field, 33.3% from beyond the arc, and 69.6% from the charity stripe.

Clark’s best game came against Lindenwood when he shot 8-9 from the field with three shots from beyond the arc finding the bottom of the net. He scored 19 points with three rebounds and four assists.

The Cardinals now have a new guard to deploy in the 2023-24 season.

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A midseason transfer from Illinois could fix Oregon’s guard depth

The Oregon backcourt scored just seven points against Colorado on Thursday, should the Ducks look into adding Illinois transfer Skyy Clark?

The Oregon Ducks put up a measly 41 points in an absolutely embarrassing effort against the Colorado Buffaloes on Thursday. The starting backcourt duo of Will Richardson and Rivaldo Soares combined for seven points on 2 of 14 shooting.

Dana Altman’s team is clearly feeling the absence of Colorado transfer guard Keeshawn Barthelemy, who is out with a left foot injury and watched his former team dominate the Ducks from the tip.

Richardson and Soares have been inconsistent at best this season. While Jermaine Couisnard’s return is great news for Oregon (he had nine points in 20 minutes on Thursday) this team clearly needs help if it has any hope of making a postseason run.

Enter Skyy Clark. Clark is a true freshman who announced his intention to leave the Illinois program after just 13 games.

Clark initially committed to Kentucky while at Montverde Academy. Prior to his commitment to Kentucky, he listed Oregon among his top eight schools along with Memphis, Michigan, North Carolina, Tennessee State, UCLA, and USC.

Of course, Clark eventually decommitted from Kentucky and joined a school in Illinois that wasn’t on his finalists list — so there’s no indication he is still interested in coming to Eugene.

If he is, Oregon should at least put in a call, despite his up-and-down performance this season.

Clark started 12 of 13 games for the Illini, averaging seven points, 3.7 rebounds, 2.1 assists, and 2.1 turnovers while shooting 33.3% from deep.

Of course, stats don’t tell the full story here, and Clark’s otherworldly athleticism and score-first mentality made him a top-40 recruit in the class of 2022. An ACL injury may have affected the start to his season, and there is reason to believe he could become a legit star in the right situation.

There is no confirmation Clark will be immediately eligible to play this season, meaning he may be transferring somewhere to start playing again in 2023-24.

That’s not necessarily a bad thing for the Ducks, who are losing both Richardson and potentially Soares after this season. Barthelemy and Couisnard should be back next year, along with junior college transfer Brennan Rigsby and incoming freshman Jackson Shelstad.

However, adding Clark to this program is well worth exploring for Altman after another lackluster performance by the backcourt.

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Illinois lands former 5-star Kentucky PG commit Skyy Clark

Former five-star Kentucky point guard commit Skyy Clark has committed to Illinois.

Five-star Montverde (Fla.) Academy point guard Skyy Clark became one of the hottest recruits in the class of 2022 in early March when he backed off his long-standing commitment to Kentucky. Almost exactly one month later, he has a new home in the Big Ten.

Clark, the No. 26 prospect in the class of 2022 according to 247Sports, committed to Illinois on Thursday night. The Tennessee native picked the Fighting Illini over Louisville, Maryland, USC, Tennessee and Washington, among others.

“Why not Illinois?” Clark said after committing, per 247Sports’ Travis Branham. “They’re a proven winning program. Brad [Underwood] lets his guards play, they have a proud tradition, [assistant coach] Tim Anderson is like an uncle to me and they have one of the best in the business strength-and-conditioning coaches Adam Fletcher. Illinois just made more sense for me and what I’m trying to do.

“They all really like each other and they work well together. They’re good with player development, they’re really cool off the court and I feel like they will bring out the best in me each and every day.”

Clark had the chance to play professionally coming straight out of high school, but opted to take his talents to the college ranks. The 6-foot-3, 200-pound point guard attributed this decision to his family background and the importance of taking advantage of his basketball talent to receive a college education.

“My mom and dad both are both educated parents, they preach the importance of the degree and education,” Clark said. “They’re my examples, they’re my role models. I want to be a parent like them, ones who sacrifice for their children daily.”

Clark is the highest-ranked recruit to commit to Illinois in two decades. Underwood’s 2022 recruiting class now ranks in the top 10 nationally.

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5-star PG and Oregon target de-commits from Kentucky, opens up recruitment

5-star PG Skyy Clark listed Oregon in his top-8 before signing with the Kentucky Wildcats. He’s now back on the market after de-committing Sunday.

 

One of the top prospects in the 2022 recruiting class made a big announcement on Sunday.

Montverde Academy’s Skyy Clark, a 5-star PG who ranks as the No. 27 player in the 2022 class said on social media that he is de-committing from the Kentucky Wildcats and opening up his recruitment going forward. Clark, who is ranked by 247Sports as the No. 5 PG in the class, signed his letter of intent with UK back in November but asked to be released from that LOI on Sunday.

This is an interesting development since the Oregon Ducks have offered Clark and could potentially pursue him now that he is available once again. When he was in the midst of his recruitment, Clark named the Ducks in his top-8 and obviously liked that Dana Altman has going in Eugene.

Now, of course, there is the question of whether or not Clark would be a good fit with the 2022 Oregon Ducks. You are never going to turn down a 5-star player who wants to join your team, but it would be easy to understand Clark looking at the incoming 2022 class at Oregon and seeing too many cooks in the kitchen alongside 5-star Dior Johnson, the No. 4 PG in the class.

It’s a fair concern and we will see if it deters Clark in the end, but for now, we will wait and see if the Ducks show any more interest in the young 5-star now that he is once again on the market.

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Five-star PG Skyy Clark decommits from Kentucky

Skyy Clark, a five-star Montverde guard and longtime Kentucky commit, has decommitted from the Wildcats’ men’s basketball team.

Skyy Clark’s name has long been near the top of the 2022 class rankings, and he has been a target for powerhouses since high school began. He was the first in his class to commit to Kentucky back in October 2020 and signed a national letter of intent last November, making it clear that he would be a key for a future Wildcats March Madness pursuit.

That is no longer the case. On Sunday, Clark announced his decommitment, stating that he asked for a release from the program so he could reopen his recruitment.

In the statement, Clark wrote he will use the “next few weeks to regroup with my family to figure out what is the best move going forward.”

The five-star Montverde (Fla.) point guard, rated on the 247Sports Composite as the No. 27 player and fifth-best at his position, is one of only three of the top-50 players who is uncommitted.

Clark has switched high schools a couple times during his career. He played his first two seasons at Heritage Christian (Northridge, Calif.), where he asserted himself as a star in his sophomore year with averages of 25.3 points, 5.1 rebounds, 4.2 assists and 2.5 steals per game. He then enrolled at Brentwood Academy (Nashville, Tenn.) before transferring to neighboring Ensworth High School before the school year began. He was unstoppable as a junior, increasing his averages to 28 points, seven assists and six rebounds and being one of five underclassmen named to the SI All-American Team. For his senior year, Clark transferred to Montverde.

After being seemingly set on Kentucky, he’s taking time to re-evaluate his options.

Despite losing Clark, Kentucky still has No. 7-ranked Chris Livingston and No. 8-ranked Carson Wallace in its class of 2022. Additionally, Shaedon Sharpe is enrolled and has yet to announce whether he’ll go straight to the NBA draft, for which he is eligible.

Five-star PG Skyy Clark returns from ACL tear in time for Hoophall

Six months after tearing his ACL, Skyy Clark made his season debut on Jan. 6. In Montverde’s first game of the 2022 Hoophall Classic, Clark had 11 points in the fist half.

Just six months after suffering a partially torn ACL and getting surgery,  Kentucky-bound Skyy Clark returned to the court.

On Jan. 6, the five-star guard stepped on the court for Montverde Academy (Fla.) for his first action since the Nike EYBL Peach Jam in July, where he suffered the injury on a non-contact play during practice.

In that debut days into 2022, Clark recorded three points, seven assists and four rebounds in 22 minutes of play. He has slowly continued to build himself up in game action since, playing three more games over the next week.

His fifth game of the season was Montverde’s debut in the 2022 Hoophall Classic on Saturday. Clark went off in the first half.

The guard scored 11 points, breaking his season-high tally in just one half of play. He did so efficiently, going 4-for-7 from the field and 3-for-4 from 3 in 14 minutes.

Clark played nine minutes in the second half and took just one shot in that time, finishing his game with 11 points, three rebounds, a pair of assists and four turnovers in Montverde’s 86-65 win over DeMatha Catholic.

As Clark works off the rust and gets his conditioning back to the level viewers are accustomed to, Kentucky will have its eye on the 6-foot-3 guard. Ranked as the 16th-best prospect in the 2022 class, Clark is part of a three-headed Wildcats class that also consists of No. 5-ranked player Chris Livingston and No. 6-ranked Cason Wallace.

If Clark returns to form in time — and it’s a remarkable feat in itself that he’s even back on the court this quickly after suffering the injury — Kentucky will once again be in excellent position to compete.

Montverde will get a day off before taking on IMG Academy (Bradenton, Fla.) on Monday, the final day of Hoophall Classic. It will be broadcast on ESPNU.

Kentucky lands five-star Oak Hill forward Chris Livingston

Five-star forward Chris Livingston has committed to Kentucky.

Kentucky hit a home run with another big name in the class of 2022 on Wednesday night, as five-star Oak Hill Academy (Va.) forward Chris Livingston committed to the Wildcats.

Livingston picked Kentucky over Georgetown, Kansas, Memphis and Tennessee State, among others. Memphis was thought to be gaining momentum to land Livingston after the additions of Emoni Bates and Jalen Duren, but the Tigers eventually fell out of the race once Kentucky established itself as the heavy favorite.

Livingston is the second five-star recruit from the class of 2022 to commit to Kentucky in September. Dream City Christian (Ariz.) shooting guard Shaedon Sharpe, the No. 1 recruit in the class after Bates and Duren reclassified, committed to the Wildcats on Sept. 7.

Livingston’s commitment gives Kentucky three five-star recruits in its 2022 recruiting class, as Montverde Academy’s Skyy Clark is the No. 17 prospect in the class.

“Tremendous physical build for a wing,” 247Sports’ Jerry Meyer wrote in his scouting report of Livingston. “Has explosive athleticism and can make plays in traffic. Loves to attack the rim. Has a powerful spin move to finish off drives.

“Shoots it well enough from deep but an area for improvement. Handles well in space but needs to tighten and refine his handle. Can deliver a pass on the move. Active player who comes up with balls off the glass and the floor. Has great potential as a multi-positional defender.”

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Montverde Academy basketball reloading with transfers

Montverde Academy is one of the few high school basketball programs in the country that reloads every offseason

Montverde Academy is one of the few high school basketball programs in the country that reloads every offseason instead of going through a rebuild when hit by heavy graduation losses.

That has once again been the case this offseason, as Montverde Academy has recently welcomed some top-end talent into its program after watching the likes of DaRon Homes (Houston), Caleb Houstan (Michigan), Langston Love (Baylor) and Ryan Nembhard (Creighton) graduate.

Forwards Omaha Biliew and Kwame Evans Jr. and guard Skyy Clark have all left their respective high school programs to join legendary head coach Kevin Boyle at Montverde. Clark, a Kentucky commit, is the No. 11 recruit in the class of 2022, according to the industry-generated 247Sports Composite Rankings.

Biliew and Evans Jr. are both class of 2023 recruits. The 6-foot-8, 190-pound Evans Jr. is the No. 5 recruit in the class, while Biliew checks in at No. 6 in the rankings. Biliew transferred to Montverde after spending last year at Waukee High School in Iowa. Evans Jr. played last season at Baltimore Polytechnic Institute in Maryland.

Montverde could lose one of its best players in Jalen Duren, the No. 2 recruit in the class of 2022, if he chooses to reclassify into 2021, but the cupboard is most definitely full for Boyle and company. With Biliew, Clark and Evans Jr. joining a roster that already features Jalen Hood-Schifino, Malik Reneau and Dariq Whitehead, Montverde is in a good position to defend its national title next season.

RELATED: Evaluating Jalen Duren’s options if he reclassifies into 2021