Bruins' Clark is Familiar With What the Big Ten Brings

UCLA junior guard Skyy Clark has previous experience playing in the Big Ten and is very prepared what is to come over the next few months. He knows that the difficult non-conference games the Bruins played will pay dividends down the stretch.

Dec 21, 2024; New York, NY, USA; UCLA Bruins guard Skyy Clark (55) during the second half against the against the North Carolina Tar Heels at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: John Jones-Imagn Images / John Jones-Imagn Images

The No. 15 UCLA Bruins (11-2) are preparing for their third Big Ten battle this Saturday as they travel on the road to face the Nebraska Cornhuskers (11-2) and Bruins junior guard Skyy Clark is no stranger to big-time games inside the Big Ten and he is ready for another road challenge.

Clark is a two-time transfer that spent his first collegiate at the University of Illinois before transferring to Louisville and then to UCLA. He has already spent an entire season in the conference, going on the road for games that make or break their Big Ten title chances.

"Definitely tough places. I mean, I don't think I can name a single Big Ten stadium where their fans don't come and show out and support, and they're talking trash," Clark said when he addressed the media on Thursday. "It definitely gets loud and rowdy, so it's a fun environment to play in, the whole Big Ten."

This will be Clark's first time playing the Cornhuskers on the road as he played just two road games his freshman year against Penn State and Maryland. The Cornhuskers hold over 15,000 people inside the Pinnacle Bank Arena in Lincoln. Nebraska, which means the Bruins will be under duress.

UCLA has gotten off to an impressive start, proving itself as a top team in the country with statement wins over several blue-blood programs. Clark was asked about what it has meant to play multiple ranked teams out of conference and the dividends that will pay off later in the year.

"We're continuing to see more and more who we can be as a team and what we can do," Clark said. "I think we've won in quite a few ways. Like against Arizona, we didn't have the best shooting game, but really grinded the win out. Gonzaga, we had a really good shooting game near the end of the second half, so it's just seeing that we can really be a national championship team. Then just having that momentum grow into conference play is going to be really good for us."

The Bruins have played some of the toughest non-conference teams in the country over the past month in preparation for their difficult Big Ten schedule. Having prior experience battling through one and two-score games in hostile environments against top teams is only going to help this team.

"I mean, Big Ten is tough; it's going to be hard to walk away with a double-digit win frequently," Clark said. "So having those games where we learn how to win when it's crunch time and we really need to tighten up, it's only going to help us going on."

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