Stephen Clark breaks down why he chose South Carolina

At the time, Stephen Clark didn’t think much of it. After games against Chattanooga–where now South Carolina head coach Lamont Paris was–Paris would always come up to Clark and share a few words with him. 

“What I appreciated about coach Paris is he always after every time we played he would always come up to me after the game,” Clark told GamecockCentral. “He’d say, ‘Hey, I enjoy seeing your growth and excited to see where you go.’ He always had the nicest things to say.” 

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At the moment it probably wasn’t much. The two quickly shared words before each guy headed back to his respective locker room. 

But as Clark was navigating his second recruitment, this time out of the transfer portal, with South Carolina showing interest he kept going back to those moments and what it was like to play those Paris-led teams. 

“They were always so well prepared, especially defensively. I think the last time we played them, Hayden (Brown) went down with an injury. I had to step up a little bit in my role and I had like seven turnovers in the game. It was crazy,” Clark said. “I thought about that a lot going through this process. He believed in me since the beginning.” 

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Clark was the Gamecocks’ second transfer portal commitment this offseason. He comes over from The Citadel where he averaged 16.3 points on 49.2 percent shooting this season. Clark also hauled in 6.5 rebounds per game. 

The 6-foot-8 forward from Charlotte wanted to stay close to home. And being able to do that while playing in the SEC was too good of an opportunity to pass up. 

That–plus sage advice from his former teammate Hayden Brown, who played for Paris last season–helped push South Carolina to the top. 

“When Hayden tells me this coaching staff is like family to him, I hold that in pretty high regard,” Clark said. “He said, ‘Coach Paris is someone I’m going to talk to for multiple years after I leave. He looks after us.’ I’m like, Yeah, that’s exactly what I’m looking for.’”

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Clark, a multi-year starter for the Bulldogs, will provide experience and skill in a Gamecocks’ frontcourt that needed bolstering this weekend. 

He averaged almost two blocks per game and had 195 total blocks over four seasons in the SoCon. Clark said he can play anywhere from the three to the five this season and help the Gamecocks defensively more than anything. 

“Defenisvley is probably where I’ll have the most immediate impact. When we have those buy games, those are usually the games I go for four or five blocks. People underestimate my ability to go up and block it off the backboard. I think that’s my first and immediate impact. Then gain some weight. And get stronger so I can handle some of the bigger guys in the post,” Clark said. 

“We have a lot of skilled guys on offense. I think where coach Paris sees me fitting in–like he talked about on my visit–as an initiator with the ball. So having the ball in my hands a lot, being able to create for others…I like to get my teammates involved and get them in spots.” 

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He and the rest of the guys in the Gamecocks portal class will arrive on campus in early June. That’s when they’ll begin preparing together for the 2023-24 season. 

For Clark, he already knows what he wants to work on as someone listed at 205 pounds and shot 22.4 percent from three this season. 

“Honestly, the two things I’m solely focused on are catch-and-shoot threes and getting my body stronger. Those are obviously the two spots I need to work on the most,” he said. “Even back in the SoCon those are the two things I was limited at. I have faith in myself that I’m going to put in the work this summer to get to the place I need to be skill-wise.”