LSU will have Skyy Clark available when the Tigers open the season Tuesday, and for now, that matters.
The Kentucky Court of Appeals denied the NCAA’s request for an emergency stay of the temporary injunction Clark and 37 other college athletes had already received, keeping the LSU guard eligible as the legal fight continues. The ruling means the injunction stays in place and Clark can keep playing, though the appeals process is not finished.
That’s why LSU coach Will Wade is still treating Clark as only temporarily cleared.
“We have two that are temporarily eligible through the courts right now through different cases (Clark and Dent), and we’re certainly aware that those things can fluctuate and change,” Wade said Thursday as LSU prepared for its season opener against LSU-New Orleans at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
Clark, a 6-foot-2 fifth-year senior transfer from UCLA, is part of a group of class of 2022 athletes pushing for a fifth season of eligibility after the NCAA approved a new age-based five-year model last June. He first joined the California lawsuit that has already granted LSU point guard Donovan Dent eligibility through the 2026-2027 season, then later moved into a similar case filed in Jefferson County Circuit Court in Louisville, Kentucky.
Both Clark’s case and Dent’s are expected to draw more appeals in the coming weeks.
For LSU, the bigger picture is obvious: Clark and Dent are the kind of backcourt pairing Wade plans to lean on. They’ve played together, they have experience, and they looked the part in LSU’s exhibition loss at Florida State last Saturday.
Clark went for 21 points on 7-of-12 shooting from three-point range, added eight rebounds, three assists and a steal, and committed two turnovers. Dent posted 24 points, hit 3-of-6 from long range and handed out nine assists.
LSU has one other eligibility issue hanging over the roster, involving 7-foot-3 former pro player Levy. He was born in Tel Aviv, Israel, played in Palencia, Spain, and has not yet been cleared by the NCAA after turning 24 on July 3. Under the NCAA’s new age-based rule passed last June, overseas pro players who have never been to college begin their five-year clock with the first full-time semester after they turn 19.
That means Levy’s clock started with the 2021-22 season, which would have put his five-season window up when the 2025-26 season ended. LSU believes there’s an exception available, though, because Levy served three years in the Israel Defense Forces.
“He was in the Israeli military,” Wade said Thursday. “There’s a military exemption.
We’ve turned in the last of his stuff (information to the NCAA). I anticipate he’ll be fine.”
Wade also made clear he does not plan to roster RJ Luis, despite a Baton Rouge judge ruling on Wednesday that he could play. Luis was a star forward at St.
John’s in the 2024-25 season before signing two NBA contracts, and he had signed with LSU last May. But LSU and Wade knew the eligibility case would be a long shot from the start.
“We are who we are at this point,” Wade said Thursday.
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LSUs Bye Week Still Carries Real Playoff Pressure
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Even if LSU ends up at 9-3, the rsum debate will not be simple, because the path back into the playoff picture also depends on a series of other results around the country. Conference races, head-to-head outcomes and how the committee weighs the final stretch will all matter, which means this bye week is less of a breather than it looks. The Tigers can rest, but they cannot really relax. [Read more 🡒]