Brown: Louisville basketball's Skyy Clark shows maturity by returning after rib injury

By the time Skyy Clark left Illinois, they were questioning his heart and calling him selfish.

They being the anonymous legion on social media, armed with Twitter fingers and sources close to the team being someone who once held the door open for a walk-on at their dorm.

Clark’s performance in Louisville basketball’s 72-50 loss to Notre Dame on Wednesday night at the KFC Yum! Center showed he’s well past being defined that way.

The 6-foot-3 guard missed the Cardinals' last two games with a broken rib suffered Feb. 10 in their win over Georgia Tech. He’s not fully healed yet, either. Yet he was back out there in the starting lineup Wednesday for a team that’s only gearing up for a chance to play as long as it can in the ACC Tournament.

“He’s a warrior,” U of L forward Brandon Huntley-Hatfield said. “He went out there and gave us what he could.”

Clark did all he could offensively to keep the Cards from losing their third straight. He scored a team-high 18 points and made his first seven shots including four 3-pointers. He showed the toughness that was once questioned by grabbing a career-high eight rebounds, which was also good enough for game high.

On Clark’s final rebound, he snatched the ball from Julian Roper then fell to the ground, reaching for his foot due to an apparent leg cramp. He played 31 minutes and afterward, U of L said he was unavailable to meet with the media in order to get treatment for his rib.

Clark shut down his season at Illinois after playing just 13 games to help care for his ailing father. Because he didn’t publicly release why he was no longer going to play, “they” took liberties to fill in the reason. None of them made Clark look good.

When U of L coach Kenny Payne recruited Clark out of the transfer portal, he said Clark would have to prove people wrong.

“I applaud him for wanting to come back and playing with the energy and the effort for the most part that we need from him,” Payne said.

Clark and Huntley-Hatfield were the only starters to make more than two field goals. The rest of the Cards who played more than 10 minutes combined to shoot 4 for 28 from the field.

That’s not going to win any games.

The Cards entered the game believing it was one they should win given the Irish have struggled in a similar manner as they have this season. Notre Dame had lost seven consecutive games and nine of 10 before patching together its current three-game win streak. Perhaps the thought of celebrating a victory helped Clark rush back into practice Monday, although Payne said leading up to the game Clark was held out of any contact drills due to his injury.

Break a rib and there’s the pain and discomfort that comes from everything you take for granted now like breathing. A deep sigh. And better hope you don't sneeze.

Now take Clark, running full speed trying to wedge himself through picks. Switching off on screens and having to defend Notre Dame center Kebba Njie, who’s 6-10 and 254 pounds.

That’s not a job responsibility to run back to while injured, especially in a season in which the latest loss against the team 13th in the ACC standings just solidified U of L’s position in last place.

Notre Dame has had a challenging season like Louisville, but coach Micah Shrewsberry said the Irish have competed and played better, even if the wins don’t always show it. He believed they turned a corner when their approach stayed consistent.

“When they kept showing up with joy, and energy and passion, that's when I knew we were heading in the right direction,” Shrewsberry said.

Showing up is part of the equation, and Clark proved Wednesday he’s headed in the right direction. Even if the wins don’t always show it.

Reach sports columnist C.L. Brown at clbrown1@gannett.com, follow him on X at @CLBrownHoops and subscribe to his newsletter at profile.courier-journal.com/newsletters/cl-browns-latest to make sure you never miss one of his columns.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Louisville MBB: Skyy Clark shows maturity by returning after injury