University of Virginia-bound point guard Kihei Clark plans to be in Charlottesville tomorrow to watch his future team in action for the first time live in person. Before heading east, though, the 5’9” senior will try and help Taft School (Woodland Hills, CA) to its 25th win of the 2017/2018 season.
The Toreadors (24-7) sealed up the West Valley League regular season championship on Wednesday (February 7) with a 61-57 win over a Birmingham team that features 6’5” senior shooting guard Devonaire Doutrive, who just received an offer from Arizona, and 6’11” junior center Christian Koloko. Prior to the Birmingham game, Clark was averaging 21.3 points, 8.3 assists and 5.8 rebounds per game according to the Los Angeles Daily News.
Taft hosts Chatworth this evening at 7 p.m.
Click here for a must-read piece on Clark by Mark Whicker of the Los Angeles Daily News. Clark talks Virginia, overcoming his size (or lack thereof), and more in this article. Stay tuned to TheSabre.com as we plan to catch up with the future Hoo following his experience in Charlottesville this weekend.
UVA-bound wing Kody Stattmann is also showing well on the basketball court. The 6’7” Australian, who along with Clark signed a letter of intent with the Cavaliers last November, has helped Queensland to the semifinals of the Australia National Junior Championships (Under 20 Men Division), which began February 7 and ends Sunday, February 11.
#AusChamps | In the playoff for the top of Pool B in the Under-20 Men’s, Kody Stattmann from @basketballqld led his team to victory with 25 points, 8 rebounds and 3 steals.
Chris Garagiola (@Its_Giuseppe) caught up with Kody after the game to discuss his performance! pic.twitter.com/AhcMOkeAdx
— Basketball Australia (@BasketballAus) February 8, 2018
The win mentioned above advanced Queensland to the quarterfinals against the NBA Global Academy. Stattmann scored 13 points (5-of-12 shooting, including 2-of-6 from 3), pulled down five rebounds and dished out three assists in Queensland’s 82-71 win over the NBA Global Academy. If you have some time you can watch this game by clicking here. Stattmann is #6 in the maroon jersey. The semifinal contest between Queensland and Victoria takes place on February 10.
No offense, but after watching snippets of Kihei Clark, I’m not a huge fan. On the pro’s side, the guy is pretty quick with a great assist to turnover ratio. But on the obvious con’s side, he’s not growing past 5’10. As an asian guy with a similar body composition (ectomorph), I know he’s not going to be able to gain the weight that Isaiah Thomas has to really drive the ball through the lane or fight off ball screens. Hopefully he proves me wrong and shoots lights out while getting bigger. Because as the only point guard we’re taking this year it looks like in three years, our two junior/senior point guards are gonna be Kihei and Marco Anthony excluding future transfers