Kihei Clark Moves Up in the All-Time Record Books at Virginia

Originally posted on FanNation Cavaliers Now
By Matt Newton | Last updated 12/4/22

Kihei Clark's decision to return for a fifth year was met with mixed reactions by those who follow UVA basketball.

May the doubters and haters be silenced.

Clark is playing some of the most efficient basketball of his UVA career, averaging nearly a career-best at 10.7 points per game on a career-high 42.3% shooting. He is shooting a career-high 42.9% from three and has dished out 33 assists to just 13 turnovers through seven games this season.

Clark has delivered great performances in back-to-back close wins for Virginia, tallying 16 points and four assists in the thrilling victory at Michigan and 18 points and three assists to help UVA hold off Florida State on Saturday. His experience showed as he operated with poise under pressure and hit clutch free throws down the stretch in both games.

In the play of the night against Florida State, Clark hustled and dove for a loose ball to save possession for Virginia, and then made the most out of that possession by breaking his defender's ankles and dishing out to Ben Vander Plas for a three-pointer to put Virginia ahead by 10 points:

As should be expected for a player who has been a key piece of Virginia's teams for each of the last five seasons, Clark is rising in several categories in the all-time UVA basketball record books and deservedly so.

In Virginia's win over Florida State, Kihei Clark moved into a tie for fourth place with Joe Harris on UVA's all-time career games list with 135 games played. Malcolm Brogdon is just ahead of Clark and Harris with 136 games and London Perrantes and Mike Tobey share the all-time lead with 138 total games played.

Clark is currently 10th all-time in UVA program history in career starts with 115. He trails Harold Deane (116 starts) by one game for 9th place and London Perrantes is the all-time leader with 132 starts.

Clark tallied three assists in the win over FSU, giving him 572 career assists, passing London Perrantes (569) for fourth all-time at Virginia. Clark is within striking distance of Sean Singletary (3rd place with 587 assists) and Jeff Jones (2nd with 598 assists). John Crotty is the all-time leader at UVA with 683 career assists.

Clark also moved into the top 40 scorers in UVA program history with 1,157 career points.

Kihei Clark's fifth and final season at Virginia is off to a tremendous start.

This article first appeared on FanNation Cavaliers Now and was syndicated with permission.

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