SALT LAKE CITY (July 29, 2013) – The Utah Jazz announced today that the team has signed rookie free-agent guard Ian Clark to a contract. Per team policy, terms of the agreement were not released.
The 22-year-old guard was named 2013 NBA Summer League Championship Game Most Valuable Player after scoring 33 points (12-19 FG, 7-10 3FG) in 28 minutes to lead the Golden State Warriors entry to a 91-77 win over the Phoenix Suns in the inaugural league title game. He helped the Warriors to the top-seed and a perfect 7-0 summer league record in Las Vegas, averaging 12.4 points on .478 shooting, including a sizzling .485 (16-33) from three-point range, in 21.6 minutes per contest. Clark was also named to the 2013 All-Orlando Pro Summer League Second Team as part of the Miami Heat entry in that league after averaging a team-high 16.4 points, good for sixth in the league, on .484 shooting and hitting .429 (12-28) on three-pointers in 28.0 minutes per game. Clark scored 15-plus points in all five games with the Heat entry in Orlando. Clark was selected to the 2013 Portsmouth Invitational All-Tournament Team in April after helping his team to the tournament championship, but went undrafted in the 2013 NBA Draft.
A 6-3, 175-pound guard out of Belmont University in Nashville, Tenn., Clark had a standout four-year career (2009-13) under coach Rick Byrd, leading the Bruins to three consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances, four conference regular season championships, three conference tournament championships and the Maui Invitational Regional Games Tournament. Clark finished his collegiate career as a four-time all-conference honoree, two-time conference defensive player of the year and three-time winner of the Tennessee Sports Writers Association (TSWA) Men's Basketball Player of the Year, leaving as Belmont’s NCAA-era career leader in points (1920) and three-point field goals (340) and would be the Atlantic Sun or Ohio Valley Conference’s career three-point field goals made leader had Belmont been in either league for four years (played in Atlantic Sun 2009-12, OVC 2012-13).
As a senior, Clark averaged 18.2 points, 3.3 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.6 steals in 33 games (all starts), sharing 2012-13 Ohio Valley Conference Player of the Year honors with Murray State’s Isaiah Canaan, a 2013 second-round pick by the Houston Rockets. Clark scored in double figures in 30 of those 33 games, shooting .459 on three-pointers (third in nation) while also ranking 10th in the country in three-pointers made per game (3.09), hitting .543 overall from the field (third in nation among guards) and .833 from the line. He was also an Associated Press All-America Honorable Mention and a Naismith and Lou Hensen National Player of the Year candidate after leading Belmont to its highest-ever NCAA Tournament seed (No. 11), which included a second-round match-up with Arizona played in Salt Lake City at EnergySolutions Arena.
The Memphis, Tenn., native and pride of Germantown (Tenn.) High School, earned his bachelor’s degree from Belmont in business administration in May 2013.