Penn’s Clark Slajchert commits to Southern Cal for final year of eligibility
Ivy League rules prevent Slajchert, the Quakers' leading scorer, from playing his final year with Penn.
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Clark Slajchert is headed home.
The Penn guard and Los Angeles native will spend his final year of collegiate eligibility at Southern California, he announced Wednesday on Instagram.
Slajchert led the Quakers in scoring, averaging 18 points and shooting 42.2% on three-pointers over 22 games in his senior season. He was sidelined for six straight games of Ivy League play with an ankle injury and Penn struggled without him, finishing the season 3-11 in league play and failing to qualify for the Ivy League tournament for the first time.
Ivy rules barring graduate students from competing in athletics prevented Slajchert from using his final year of eligibility at Penn.
The Trojans finished the 2023-24 season with a 15-18 record and were eliminated by Arizona in the quarterfinals of the Pac-12 tournament. Slajchert will join USC for its first season as a member of the Big Ten.
» READ MORE: Penn graduate Kayla Padilla keeping an ‘underdog mentality’ with USC in Sweet 16
In addition to a new conference, the Trojans also have a new coach after hiring Eric Musselman last Thursday. Former Kentucky coach John Calipari was named Musselman’s replacement at Arkansas.
Slajchert is the second Penn basketball player to join the Trojans as a graduate transfer in the last two years. Kayla Padilla, a native of Torrance, Calif., helped the women’s team reach the Elite Eight this season.