Kihei Clark drives against Auburn in the semifinals of the Final Four in the NCAA basketball tournament. Virginia beat Auburn and Clark and the Cavaliers play Texas Tech for the national championship Monday night.
MINNEAPOLIS -- Kihei Clark might smile when he's with his teammates behind closed doors.
He might laugh when he watches a funny video.
He might chuckle at one of Tony Bennett's corny jokes, within the confines of the Virginia men's basketball closed practices.
But the face he shows the public, and opponents, is all business.
Perhaps that's because at 5-foot-9, 155 pounds, the freshman guard is not supposed to be starting for most college basketball teams, let alone one that is in the championship game of the NCAA tournament on Monday night.
But here he is, and he's loving it - not that you can tell by looking at him.
Not only is Clark playing for Virginia, he's playing thousands of miles from his home in Woodland Hills, Calif., a suburb of Los Angeles.
He starts and averages 26 minutes, 4.4 points, 2.5 assists and 2.4 rebounds per game.
He plays much older than his years and far bigger than his height.
Clark was supposed to be at the University of California-Davis this season, which plays in the Big West and is located in a suburb of Sacramento, Calif.
UC-Davis is a fine school in a fine conference. UC-Irvine was one of the top mid-major programs in the country this season. But Clark wasn't thrilled with a schedule that included Cal Poly, Long Beach State and UC Riverside.
He had a good summer on the AAU circuit and re-opened his recruiting.
Bennett was intrigued. He'd had good luck with another Southern California point guard, London Perrantes, and wondered if the UVA program would be as fortunate again.
"What I love about London and Kihei, they weren't really highly touted," Bennett said. "But they were good. They have a good basketball nose.
"And yeah, he's 5-9, and so many people get caught up in dimensions, and there's value and importance in that, but toughness, quickness, feel, savvy, those things are there. And I played with Muggsy Bogues. I was Muggsy Bogues' backup in the NBA [with the Charlotte Hornets].
When you see someone who has 'it', and has that kind of heart and determination, that sold me. It's not like I'm a giant myself. I say I'm 6-feet. My wife and I argue. She says I'm 5-11 1/2. But if you can play, you can play."
When Bennett saw Clark play last summer, he looked past his stature and studied his basketball skills. But, still, 5-9. Bennett had to be sure.
He called Jim Les, the coach at UC-Davis, the school Clark had committed to, then rejected.
"Jim played in the NBA, too," Bennett said. "I said, 'Hey, am I seeing this right? I think he can play. And Jim said, 'Yes.'"
And Clark became a Cavalier instead of an Aggie.
It didn't matter to Clark, who had traveled the country playing with his AAU team, that he was moving across the continent to play for Bennett. Clark gets around. In March of 2018, he was in the Philippines playing for the Filipino all-American team. His mother is of Filipino descent.
Clark's father, Malik, played at the University of Hawaii, Hilo, a division II program.
"I’ve learned almost everything from him," Clark said of his father. "He’s taught me a lot,
especially defensively. He wasn’t very big as well, and he had me working on defense from a young age. He taught me to slide and keep guys in front and pressure the ball 94 feet.
"I was going to travel anywhere, whether it was in my backyard or across the country. I just wanted to play the best basketball I could. I talked to UCLA, Gonzaga, Utah, Georgia Tech."
He talked to Bennett, and they connected almost immediately. Bennett, with the Bogues experience, wasn't overly concerned about a 5-9 guard in the ACC.
"When I got there, I had to prove to the coaches I could be on the floor, and they could trust me with the ball," Clark said. "The defensive end [for Virginia] is very difficult, but if you just work at it, you can pick it up pretty quickly. You’ve just got to work hard and get position and be focused and be locked in and ready to go all the time. You can’t really take a break.
"Offensively, I just had to let the game come to me, learn my spots on the floor where I could shoot, pass and where to make a play."
Turns out Clark can make plays all over the court. In the championship game of the South Region in the NCAA tournament, all seemed lost for Virginia.
The Cavaliers were down two points when point guard Ty Jerome missed the second of two free throws with 5.9 seconds left. Mamadi Diakite, a 6-9 post player, tapped the ball deep into the backcourt, and Clark raced to get it.
He looked off several defenders, threw a laser-like pass to Diakite, whose short jump shot was good and sent the game to overtime. Virginia won by five to advance to the Final Four.
The pass and shot immediately entered UVA basketball lore. Diakite received standing ovations when he walked into some of his classes.
"I got some high-fives, no ovations like Mamadi," Clark said, revealing a rare smile.
Monday night, Clark will be on the court as the Cavaliers play Texas Tech for the national championship.
If things go as Clark hopes, it's quite possible he'll reveal the widest smile he's shown since arriving in Charlottesville.
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