Clemson men’s basketball player suspended by NCAA

Clemson men’s basketball player David Skara has been suspended for the first nine games of the season, the NCAA announced Friday afternoon.

Skara, a redshirt junior, is being suspended for a violation that occurred while he was a student-athlete at Valparaiso in April of 2016 prior to transferring to Clemson and sitting out a year.

The 6-foot-8 forward was recently described as being “by far” Clemson’s best defender by head coach Brad Brownell.

“We’re disappointed in the NCAA for withholding David from competition, but we are certainly proud of the way he is handling it,” Brownell said in a statement on Friday. “We’ll anticipate his return for our game against Florida on Dec. 16.”

Skara averaged 6.5 points and 3.1 rebounds in 19.7 minutes per game as a sophomore at Valparaiso during the 2015-16 season.

The Tigers open their season Friday night at 7 p.m. when they host Western Carolina.

This story was originally published November 10, 2017 at 3:36 PM with the headline "Clemson men’s basketball player suspended by NCAA."