While Friar fans were anticipating the visit of South Carolina guard Devin Carter, there was another portal target on campus this weekend, Clifton Moore. Clifton Moore is a 6-11 big man who original played at Indiana for two years before transferring and playing at LaSalle the past two seasons. Last year he averaged 12.9 ppg , 6.1 rpg, and 2.8 bpg for the Explorers.
The Friars have had plenty of experience recruiting transfers from both Indiana and LaSalle, with Al Durham and Ed Croswell recently coming from those two programs respectively.
With the Friars losing incoming freshman big Christ Essandoko, Cooley and staff are looking to add another big man behind Ed Croswell. Clifton Moore seems to fit the bill. He runs the floor well for a big man his size and plays well in space, with getting easy dunks off cuts and rim runs. He also does a nice job in the post and shows good footwork with multiple moves to score in the paint. Moore also is a capable shooter from deep, albeit he only shot 25% from three last season.
The biggest asset he can bring to Providence is his rim protection, something the Friars have lacked over the past few seasons. PC has been outside the top-100 in the nation in blocks per game since the 2018-2019 season. Moore was able to swat 83 shots last season. He would have to cut down on the turnovers, as he averages 1.5 TOs per game a season ago. It was something we saw Croswell able to cut down on when he came to PC.
No question Moore would be a guy to be excited about if the Friars land him. To me the big question would be how does Cooley utilize him. Would he in be a similar role to what Ed Croswell served last year? Or would he be in the starting five?
If his visit in Friartown this weekend was a successful one look for Clifton Moore being possibly the next domino to drop for the Friars in the portal. Pairing him up with Noah Locke, you’d add two guys that would play prominent roles on your team next year but also give you roster flexibility as you’d have open spots for them the following season.