Once he was cleared to participate, Jack Clark never considered a redshirt season at La Salle
The freshman guard has played well since being activated in the eight game.
Had Jack Clark asked, La Salle coach Ashley Howard would have had no problem redshirting the freshman recruit from Cheltenham High School.
Clark had missed most of his senior season at Cheltenham after suffering a devastating injury to his left knee.
Although the timetable for recovery had Clark cleared to resume full basketball activities in November, there would still be questions about how a year away from competition would affect him physically and mentally.
The Explorers had to consider that throwing Clark into the fire of competitive NCAA basketball too early might be a detriment. Clark thought about it and came up with something that would be worse – a second straight year of not playing.
“Having already sat out a full year and knowing that I was going to be cleared 100 percent to play around the fourth game, it was on my mind that I wanted to get out there and play to help my teammates, not only in practice, but to win games,” said Clark, who was rated as a three-star recruit and the fourth-best high school player in Pennsylvania for the class of 2018. “Physically, I could have handled [sitting out this season] but mentally not at all.
“Players play. I wanted to get out there and play. I wanted to help my teammates by playing with them.”
For Howard and his coaching staff, the final decision was made when they started watching the way the 6-8 wing was performing in practice.
“Once [Clark] got cleared, we’re watching him in practice and saying this dude can play,” Howard said. “Jack wanted to play, and if he didn’t want to play, we would have redshirted him.
“The competitor in him was watching games and saying, ‘I know I can help the team.’ When you have a player that comes to you and says he wants to play and also understands the other benefits like experience, our ability to push him and develop him, it made all the sense in the world to play him this season.”
It’s becoming the type of decision that could help kick-start Howard’s rebuilding plan at La Salle.
Clark sat out the first seven games and then made his collegiate debut against reigning NCAA champion Villanova. He scored nine and was 3-of-4 on three-point field goals.
He had a career-high 21 points the next game against Bucknell.
On Saturday, Clark had 14 points against Atlantic 10 favorite St. Louis.
In eight games heading into Wednesday night’s 59-56 loss to George Washington, primarily as a substitute, Clark averaged 28 minutes, while scoring 11 points a game. After scoring seven in the loss, he has 16 three-pointers and shoots 41 percent from downtown.
Along with sophomore center Miles Brookins, freshmen big men Jared Kimbrough and Ed Croswell, and sophomore transfer David Beatty, Clark is part of the young nucleus eager to propel La Salle into the future.
“We want these guys to grow together,” Howard said. “They are getting experience. The reason we wanted to play Jack Clark was because we knew he would get a lot better by playing in games, going against bigger and stronger guys.
“Now we’ll be able to use the next offseason for him to home in on the things that he needs to work on in order to become one of the best guards in this league.
Clark was actually signed by former coach John Giannini, but he was familiar with Howard from the recruiting scene and was comfortable with the coaching change when Giannini and the Explorers parted ways last March and La Salle hired the Villanova assistant.
“Never thought about,” Clark said when asked whether he had considered withdrawing his commitment to La Salle. “When [Giannini left], Coach Ash and I talked.
“There was no thought in my mind of leaving. I was more concerned with talking to [Kimbrough and Croswell] to make sure they would stay, too.
“I know our team. We’re going to get [La Salle] back. We work hard every day. We listen to the coaches. Our team has a good bond and we’re going to keep getting better.”