Bruins' Clark Has Grown Immensely as a Player and Man

The UCLA Bruins (20-8, 11-6) gained several new transfer players this offseason, but few have been more impactful than junior guard Skyy Clark. The growth he has made this season as both a ballplayer and human being has been a game-changer for this Bruins team.

Clark was featured on this week's "Bruin Insider Show" with Bryan Fenley and Nick Koop, talking about his progression this year as a player and a man experiencing incredible hardship in his own life. Clark also credited Coach Mick Cronin for the part he has played in his development.

"I think this year, through everything that I've been through, starting from the summer, I really had to grow up because my dad has been in the hospital since June 25," Clark said. "He's out now, doing rehab and everything, but he was in the hospital for a lot of months, so I really had to grow up and learn what it means to be a man and help take care of the family and take care of my siblings.

" ... Coach Cronin, he teaches us about life. Yes, he's on us about basketball, but most of the things that he's teaching us are about life. I just try to take as much info as I can and apply it to myself."

The Los Angeles native is playing for his third school in three years of collegiate basketball. It seems that he has finally found the home he has been looking for since debuting with the Illinois Fighting Illini in 2022. Clark acknowledged the selfless and egoless team that he has helped make great.

"It's been amazing; I said in the press [conference] before, this is my favorite team that I've been on," Clark said. "I mean, all the guys, they're super fun, they're super easygoing, there's no egos, literally everybody on this team is for each other, and that energy has spread throughout the season. You've seen some games where we're just clicking the entire game, and it's helped us win a lot of games, too, so it's been amazing.

" ... We got 17 dudes on the team. It's hard to find 17 dudes that are all not about themselves."

There is no doubt that Clark has been a season-changing player for the Bruins. Despite averaging 7.9 points while earning career highs in field-goal and 3-point percentages, there is another part of Clark's game that he feels has improved the most this year.

"I'd say the biggest part of my game that I've grown in, last year, I believe I had more turnovers than assists, and I knew that was one of the knocks on me in my game," Clark said. "Coach Cronin has been a big part of that, teaching me to slow down and really helping me understand what it means to value the basketball."

Clark was correct; he had 88 turnovers and 87 assists in his lone season at Louisville last year. This season, he has dropped that turnover number to just 29 while earning 73 assists. He has the best assist-to-turnover margin at +44 in over 700 minutes played, the second-most minutes on the team.

March is quickly approaching, and Clark's production will be needed if the Bruins want to make a deep run in the conference and NCAA tournaments. He has the tools, mentally and physically, to cement himself as a key member of this program with a marquee performance in the postseason.

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