Stephen Clark takes advantage of Clemson not guarding him, scores season-high in points
Right away, Clemson paid no attention to Stephen Clark. He was left out on an island and it didn’t feel the need to guard him.
That turned out to be a mistake. The Tigers must have forgotten this was a player who averaged 16.3 points last year.
On the first possession of the game, Meechie Johnson drove inside and kicked the ball out to a wide-open Clark. With no defender putting a hand up, he swished a three-pointer to open the scoring.
“It just shows he’s one of the key guys for us,” forward BJ Mack said. You can’t just try to pick out one of us and think, ‘Oh, he’s not really effective.’ He stepped up for us.”
[GamecockCentral for $1: In-depth coverage and a great community]
Before Wednesday, Clark hadn’t really shown what he could do yet. Despite being a regular starter, his minutes weren’t plentiful. He would always be the first starter to come out of the game. He played less than 10 minutes in each of his last two starts.
With that in mind, Clemson didn’t think he would be of any importance in South Carolina’s game plan. So the Tigers continued to not heavily guard him. As a result, he ended up scoring 10 points on 3-of-5 shooting and had five rebounds.
“I think he played great. We needed those points coming in from him,” Mack said. We knew that in the scouting that they weren’t really trying to key in on Stephen so he made the best out of it and made them respect him.”
Top 10
- 1New
Jaxson Robinson injury
UK star to miss Tennessee game
- 2Trending
DJ Durkin
Auburn DC gets extension
- 3
AP Poll controversy
New Top 25 raises eyebrows
- 4
Penn State police warning
Saquon celebration triggers warning
- 5
Kai Trump
President's granddaughter holds $1.2M NIL Valuation
Get the On3 Top 10 to your inbox every morning
By clicking "Subscribe to Newsletter", I agree to On3's Privacy Notice, Terms, and use of my personal information described therein.
Related: South Carolina-Clemson box score
It wasn’t a great night for the Gamecocks, who lost 72-67, but Clark was one of the lone bright spots for the team.
“I thought Stephen Clark was a shot in the arm a couple times,” head coach Lamont Paris said. “They were not guarding him essentially. He moved around and found his way into a couple good situations and opportunities for us.”
[The perfect Christmas gift: A gift subscription to GamecockCentral]
Clark played 16 minutes in the loss. His role hasn’t been as big as the other starters on the team. But he’s made the most of his opportunities so far and could be a key contributor moving forward.
“Stephen’s a great teammate, great role player,” Johnson said. “He knows how to play his role well. And when it’s time for him to score, he scores the ball well. It shows you how many people on our team can really shoot the ball at any time.
“I trust Stephen. He hit the first three to hit that shot. I kept telling him to keep shooting. So yeah, Stephen did a great job tonight. I think you’ll see a lot of times he can be more aggressive at times. Again, it just shows you it can be anybody’s night when you get going.”
