Kentucky WBB freshman Clara Silva is on MVP watch at FIBA U18 Women’s EuroBasket
Summer practice is fully underway for the Kentucky women’s basketball team, but one of Kenny Brooks‘ potential star players is still dominating overseas before making her way to Lexington.
6-foot-6 freshman center Clara Silva has been magnificent in the FIBA U18 Women’s EuroBasket as a representative of Portugal. She has her home country off to a 4-0 start with a spot in the tournament quarterfinals set for Thursday afternoon against Israel. Silva has been Portugal’s star player in the event and is already being labeled as a candidate to take home MVP honors.
In fact, you can vote for her as the projected MVP. FIBA has released an online poll where you can pick Silva to win MVP. All you have to do is click the link here and then hit the up arrow on Silva’s name. As of the time this post was published, Silva was in second place behind Serbia’s Jovana Popovic.
Through four games played, Silva is averaging 20.3 points, 8.5 rebounds, three assists, and 2.5 blocks in 30.7 minutes per contest. She’s shooting 63.5 percent from the floor and 62.5 percent from the free throw line. Silva posted 20 points, 11 rebounds, and three blocks in Portugal’s quarterfinal win over Croatia on Wednesday.
In order to bring a gold medal with her to UK’s campus, Silva and Portugal need three more wins between now and Sunday’s championship. A win over Israel on Thursday would pit them against the winner of France vs. Belgium on Friday. Portugal, which is hosting this year’s tournament, has yet to medal in the FIBA U18 Women’s EuroBasket — some history is on the line.
Silva has gone slightly under the radar going into Brooks’ first season as head coach at Kentucky. As an international prospect, she was not widely known. But ESPN has said she would have been a Top 10 high school player in her class if she played in the United States. Silva’s size combined with pure skill in the paint is unlike anything we’ve seen at this program in several years.
Once EuroBasket wraps up, she’ll head to Lexington and begin practicing with her new teammates for the 2024-25 season. Hopefully, she’ll do so with a gold medal and an MVP trophy on her resume.
Discuss This Article
Comments have moved.
Join the conversation and talk about this article and all things Kentucky Sports in the new KSR Message Board.
KSBoard