Jack Clark continues basketball journey with transfer to NC State

Major change was coming to the men’s basketball program at La Salle University, so Jack Clark decided it was a good time to look for something new himself.

On the same day, March 21, that La Salle parted ways with head coach Ashley Howard, the 6-foot-8 Clark placed his name in the NCAA Transfer Portal. A two-year starter with a career 11.0 scoring average for the Explorers, Clark wanted to find a school willing to better utilize his skills.

That school became NC State on April 19 after taking an official visit to Raleigh the previous weekend. He’ll have two seasons of eligibility remaining with the Wolfpack.

“Honestly, I didn’t feel like I was being used correctly up here at La Salle,” Clark said this week. “With me graduating in May, it just seemed like a good time to enter the transfer portal. NC State was one of the first schools that contacted me just a couple of days after I entered the portal. I talked to my AAU guys about them, but I didn’t know much about the program.”

Clark, who hails from just minutes outside of Philadelphia in the township of Cheltenham, spent four seasons at La Salle and is coming off his best campaign with the Explorers. An all-around performer, he ranked second on the team in scoring (12.0) and assists (1.9), was third in rebounds (5.8), first in steals (35) and second in 3-point goals (48).

Other schools reached out to Clark once he entered the transfer portal, including Virginia Commonwealth. But being the first paid off for NC State, which almost immediately got him to campus in early April. The visit made a strong impression on Clark.

“It was a nice campus, nice area, nice arena … everything was just nice compared to La Salle,” Clark said. “It was a breath of fresh air going down there. They really rolled out the red carpet for me.

“I was still thinking about some other schools when I went down there, but after that (visit) NC State blew up on my radar. It was like a 50-50 shot when I went down there, but when I left it was like 80-20. I got back on Sunday and had to sleep on it. But when I woke up the next day I was like, ‘No, this is the place. I’ve got to go there.”

The decision is just the latest chapter in a basketball odyssey for Clark that began due to a strong family connection to the sport.

Clark’s father, John, played basketball and coached his son on the junior varsity at Cheltenham High.

His grandfather, John W. Parker, was the first NAIA All-American at Millersville State and the school’s first player to have his jersey retired. Parker then spent seven seasons playing in the old Eastern Basketball League before taking up officiating. In 1969, Parker became one of the first African Americans to officiate an NBA game, taking the whistle for the professional debut of then-Lew Alcinder (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) in a nationally televised affair.

Combine those connections with the influence of the nearby Philadelphia basketball community, and it was almost a given that Jack Clark would find his way to the court. By middle school, it was evident Clark had a natural gift for the sport.

“At that point, I would just speed by everybody on the court and lay the ball up, or steal the ball and lay it up,” Clark said. “I’m just 13 years old and doing all that stuff playing up in competition. But at that point I wasn’t thinking about college basketball.

“I just loved basketball and was just playing.”

That changed after Clark reached Cheltenham High, but not before some trials and tribulations.

Clark spent most of his freshman season at Cheltenham playing for the junior varsity, but gave a glimpse of things to come by scoring 12 points in his only varsity appearance. Stuck behind a group of underclassmen, he alternated between the JV and varsity as a sophomore.

A growth which saw him go from 6-foot-2 to 6-7 in a few months drastically changed Clark’s status as a junior. He led Chelthenham to the Class 6A district semifinals and a berth in the state playoffs where he dropped 32 points in an opening-round loss. He received his first college scholarship offer from Rider right after that game.

The performance earned Clark status as one of the best players in the Philadelphia area and college scholarship offers from more than a dozen NCAA Division programs. He eventually decided to stay just 15 minutes from his home to play for LaSalle.

“It was a neighborhood school and I already knew the campus,” Clark said of his decision to play for La Salle. “It felt like home already.”

Clark would face a major challenge before enrolling at La Salle when in late January of his senior season he landed awkwardly on the court after a dunk. The result was a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee that would sideline Clark for the remainder of his senior year.

Although many believed Clark would redshirt as a true freshman at La Salle due to the injury, his hard work and dedication in rehab helped him make his college debut in the eighth game of the 2018-19 season. Clark started his college career in impressive fashion by sinking a trio of 3-pointers and scoring nine points against No. 23-ranked Villanova. He would average 10.6 points and 4.3 rebounds in nine games before another ACL tear sidelined him for the rest of that season and the 2019-20 campaign.

Clark bounced back from that injury to start 42 of 54 games over the next two seasons, averaging 11.1 points and 5.5 rebounds during that time.

But after four years at La Salle, and scheduled to graduate with a major in biology and minor in sociology in May, Clark was ready for a change. And when the opportunity to play in the Atlantic Coast Conference was presented, he jumped at the offer.

“With the ACC being one of the best, if not the best conference in college basketball, that was definitely a big thing for me going from the A-10 to the ACC,” he said. “That definitely helped my decision.

“But I was also impressed by (head) coach (Kevin) Keatts. He was honest about helping me out, and me helping the team this year.”

Jack Clark Ready To Help NC State Basketball

And how will Jack Clark help the 2022-23 Wolfpack?

“Well, they like big guards, so that’s where I fit,” he said. “Being a big guard on their team and kind of an up-and-down player, who can get out in transition, shoot the ball from 3 and just being a guy who can do everything on the court. I’m not just one dimensional.”

Clark’s addition came at a critical time for an NC State teams trying to fill significant voids through the transfer portal.

The Wolfpack’s No. 3 scorer from last season, Jericole Helms, has completed his eligibility. Center Manny Bates, who led the ACC in blocked shots and averaged 9.8 points in 2020-21 before missing last year with an injury, entered the transfer portal in March.

Leading scorer Dereon Seabron and All-ACC Rookie pick Terquavion Smith have started the process to enter the NBA draft. Both submitted their names to the NBA’s underclassmen advisory committee for evaluation, but have the option to return to NC State.

“I think Jack is really just scratching the surface of what he can become as a basketball player,” NC State’s Keatts said. “I was really impressed when we started watching tape on him. He’s very versatile. He has great length and he can score the basketball. I think his size and shooting ability is going to make him a tough matchup for opposing defenses.

“Off the court, he’s an incredible young man with high character. I’m excited to welcome him to our program.”

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