UCLA's Clark Named Naismith Defensive Player of the Year
April 02, 2023 | Men's Basketball
HOUSTON โ UCLA junior guard Jaylen Clark has been named this season's Naismith Defensive Player of the Year, as announced on Sunday by the Atlanta Tipoff Club at an awards brunch at The Ballroom at Bayou Place.
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Clark, a 6-foot-5 guard from Riverside, Calif., attended Sunday's awards brunch in Houston, the site of this year's NCAA Final Four, to receive the national defensive award. He was recognized earlier last week by the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) as the NABC Defensive Player of the Year.
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Clark has become UCLA's first player to win the Naismith Defensive Player of the Year Award, now in its sixth year as a national honor (the award began during the 2017-18 basketball season).
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A two-time Pac-12 All-Defensive Team selection, Clark currently ranks fourth in the nation in steals per game (2.6 spg) and No. 9, nationally, in total steals (78). He averaged 13.0 points, 6.0 rebounds and 2.6 steals in 30 games for the Bruins during his junior season. He ranked first among all Pac-12 players in steals (78) and steals per game (2.6). Clark earned Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year honors at the conclusion of the regular season.
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Clark concluded the year tied for the No. 3 spot on UCLA's single-season steals record (78, tied with Darren Collison's total from 2006-07). He sustained a season-ending lower right leg injury in UCLA's final home game (March 4). He finished the Bruins' season just four steals away from Cameron Dollar's total of 82 steals (from 1996-97). He was 17 steals shy of Jordan Adams' record-setting total of 95 steals (set in 2013-14).
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A second-team All-Pac-12 Conference selection in 2022-23, Clark shot 48.1 percent from the field and was UCLA's second-leading rebounder (6.0 rpg, trailing Jaime Jaquez Jr.'s average of 8.2). His 78 steals were the most by any UCLA player since Jordan Adams set the school's single-season mark as a sophomore with 95 steals in 2013-14.
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Paced by Clark, the Bruins led the Pac-12 in fewest points allowed per game (60.7). UCLA currently ranks No. 7 in the nation in scoring defense.
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Clark tallied at least two steals in 23 of 30 games played. He finished with four steals in seven contests and opened the season with a career-high seven steals in a win against Sacramento State.
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Past winners of the Naismith Men's Defensive Player of the Year Award have included Walker Kessler (Auburn, 2022), Davion Mitchell (Baylor, 2021), Marcus Garrett (Kansas, 2020), Matisse Thybulle (Washington, 2019) and Jevon Carter (West Virginia, 2018).
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Purdue's Zach Edey was honored at Sunday's awards brunch as the 2023 Naismith Men's Player of the Year. Kansas State head coach Jerome Tang was named this season's Werner Ladder Naismith Men's Coach of the Year.
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Clark has become the first player from UCLA to win the Naismith Men's Defensive Player of the Year award and is the second from the Pac-12 Conference, after Matisse Thybulle from Washington in 2019. He has become the fifth Bruin to win a Naismith Award, following Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (1969 POY as Lew Alcindor), Jim Harrick (1995 Coach of the Year), Marques Johnson (1977 POY) and Bill Walton (1972-74 POY).
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UCLA concluded the 2022-23 season with a 31-6 overall record, marking the program's highest single-season victory total (31) since going 31-5 in 2016-17. The Bruins won the Pac-12 Conference regular-season title for the first time since 2013. In addition, UCLA advanced to the championship game of the Pac-12 Tournament and moved into the NCAA Tournament's "Sweet 16" for the third straight season.
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