University of Virginia’s Filipino-American pointguard Kihei Clark cut down the nets after the Cavaliers’ 85-77 overtime victory against Texas Tech in the NCAA championship game Monday night and basketball fans in the San Fernando Valley celebrated with him.
Within one year, Clark’s audience went from a couple hundred in Woodland Hills, where he attended Taft High School, to millions watching all over the world, including the 75,000 on hand at U.S Bank Stadium in Minneapolis.
Clark’s journey, especially through the NCAA Tournament, was cheered throughout the San Fernando Valley.
“Everyone knew Kihei,” Taft coach Derrick Taylor said. “He was a little-bitty kid always in the gym with his dad. (The Clarks) are the nicest people, their kindness never wavered. When you’re nice and you play hard, people are going to root for you.”
Clark was an All-City and All-Area selection in high school, but a 5-foot-9 guard getting recruited to a national power like Virginia still came as a head scratcher to some, especially since Clark’s original commitment was to UC Irvine.
Yet, Virginia coach Tony Bennett had a plan.
“Last year, they needed someone that could defend smaller guards,” Taylor said. “Help to stop penetration. That was Kihei’s role this year. He didn’t just accept, he mastered it.”
Clark played in all 38 games this season. He started 20 games, including every NCAA Tournament game. He played 33 minutes in the national championship and tallied three points, four assists and two rebounds.
Before his days in Woodland Hills, Clark played his youth travel basketball with Kings Academy, based out of the Conejo Valley. He played for Adam Mazarei, now an NBA assistant with the Memphis Grizzlies, almost 10 years ago.
“I never coached anyone harder than Kihei, and that’s a credit to him and his parents for letting me coach,” Mazarei said. “A lot of parents are delusional and interfere with coaches. Kihei’s parents get it.”
Mazarei, a small standout point guard at the University of Redlands from 2002-06, related to Kihei because of their size.
“Kihei is 20 times better than I’ll ever be,” Mazarei said laughing. “When I first got him, he over-dribbled and played flashy. I shut that down right away. But he’s always been about the team. I can’t wait until next year when he has a larger role with more ball-handling responsibility, he’ll be great at that, too.”
Clark joins a special group of Taft High alumni by becoming the third former Toreador – all coached by Taylor – to win a national title. Larry Drew II did it in 2009 with North Carolina and DeAndre Daniels with UConn in 2014. He is the fourth to compete in the game – Jordan Farmar lost in the national title game with UCLA in 2006.
Taylor said those players all had something in common.
“All four were fierce competitors,” he said. “They all invested in the program on and off the court, they were leaders. Not one caused any problems, either. They would lead team fundraisers, too.”
Clark’s journey is much like Virginia’s the past year. His rise from the southwestern part of the San Fernando Valley fits perfectly with Virginia’s rise from an embarrassing loss in the first round of the NCCA Tournament in 2018 – becoming the first No. 1 seed in history to lose to a No. 16 seed. Both are now national champs.
