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Hatboro-Horsham grad Clifton Moore fits right in at Providence

11/03/2022, 10:15am EDT
By Jeff Griffith

By Jeff Griffith (@Jeff_Griffith21)
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(Ed. Note: This article is part of our 2022-23 season coverage, which will run for the six weeks preceding the first official games of the year on Nov. 9. To access all of our high school and college preview content for this season click here)
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Clifton Moore is pretty fond of The Breakfast Club. 

As a graduate transfer at Providence, it’s actually been one of the biggest keys to the 6-foot-10 Hatboro-Horsham product’s quick assimilation into his new program’s culture. 

“It really just brought us closer together really quickly,” he said.


Former La Salle and Hatboro-Horsham player Clifton Moore is ingraining himself at Providence. (Photo: Mark Jordan/CoBL)

No, he’s not referring to the popular 1985 film. 

Moore’s breakfast club of choice, at least over the last few months leading up to the 2022-23 college basketball season, has been comprised of several Providence basketball players, himself included.

An optional preseason program, ‘The Breakfast Club’ provides members of the team an opportunity to log an early-morning workout session and group breakfast outing. 

“It’s like a daily workout process, and then later in the week, we’d go out and eat,” Moore said. “There's multiple people in the Breakfast Club. We can really just hang out and see how we are and really gel like that in the summer and in the preseason.”

“It’s an optional thing,” he added, “but it's something that's an investment, and something that's really, really helped us.”

Moore had heard testimonies of a rich, positive culture at Providence from plenty of players and alums, and he’s now seeing it first hand. Ultimately, it’s making the move to a new school all the more enjoyable. 

“It wasn't a hard transition, in terms of the kind of people and how inclusive they are,” he said. “They care about you on and off the court. Other people that have been in the program before have said that, so it's definitely been consistent.”

According to Moore, while it wasn’t the only factor, that kind of program atmosphere played a role in his decision to land at Providence when he entered the transfer portal.

“I could see it on the court,” he said. “The chemistry, and the joy that they were playing with.”

Moore’s opportunities with the Providence program started well before the 2022-23 season zoomed into focus, and extend well beyond the court — and the breakfast table. 

When he made the move to Rhode Island, the 6-foot-10 forward had the opportunity to carve out a niche for himself, working with the school’s basketball media team.


Clifton Moore, now at Providence, throws down a dunk for La Salle against Penn Last season. (Photo: Mark Jordan/CoBL)

In his role — that of an intern, as a graduate student — Moore largely edits video for the team’s social media channels. He graduated from La Salle with a degree in business marketing, so the opportunity seemed like a good fit. 

“They put me on their hours, and I can work with them behind the scenes, and edit some videos for them. They taught me the ropes,” he said. “I thought it'd be an interesting thing to take up. and really learn this side of it.”

When it was offered during the summer, Moore wasn’t initially certain that the role was for him. In hindsight, he’s glad he dove in. 

“It's something that I wasn't really sure about, but you know, you’ve got to get your feet wet,” he said. “I was like, ‘we'll see how this goes.’ But when I went in there and started getting into it, I ended up spending more hours than I probably should have, actually being invested and interested in it, and working with it.”

“I think it really helped,” he added, referring to the role his internship played in getting acclimated at Providence. “It was just really inclusive from the jump.”

While he had plenty of help getting adjusted as a new student-athlete at Providence, a change in schools is nothing new for Moore.

During Moore’s now-five-year college basketball career, Providence marks his third program; Moore comes to the Friars having completed two seasons apiece at Indiana and La Salle. 

As a veteran of the college game, he’s made an effort to carve out a leadership role with the Friars this season.

“I feel like with the experience that I have, there's just a lot of respect that's going around in this program,” he said. “Players can  step up and lead by example, and that's what I tried to do, doing the right thing, being where I’m supposed to be, and, and everything like that.”

Moore’s previous stint in a power conference, spent at Indiana from 2017-2019, never really picked up momentum. He came out of Hatboro-Horsham as 247Sports’ 151st-ranked prospect in the class of 2017, but was one of three power forwards — including current starter and leader Race Thompson — to join the Hoosiers that fall. 

Moore struggled to find minutes, averaging just shy of four in 26 appearances. He then made the switch to La Salle, where he found a much more consistent role after sitting out the 2019-20 season due to transfer regulations. Once he hit the court, he found a role from the jump in a new environment, contributing 6.1 ppg and 4.0 in about 20 mpg during his junior season. 

His senior year (2021-22), Moore’s first full season as a starter at the college level, was by far his best yet. Moore more than doubled his scoring to 12.9 ppg, added 6.1 rpg, 1.2 apg and drastically improved his free-throw shooting from 62.5 percent to 72.3 percent. 

Most notably, a talented defender, Moore finished 13th nationally in blocks per game with 2.8. 

“(I hope) to provide that reputation, and that connectedness on defense,” he said. “And to really just have a great year.”

Now, with a more developed game, plenty of experience, and what he views as a wide array of skills, he hopes to provide a boost to a Providence program that won the Big East regular season title and reached the Sweet 16 a year ago.

Moore believes the biggest thing he can bring to the table isn’t one attribute — it’s a little bit of everything.

“I fit in as someone that can be a person with experience, someone who has game experience and has had success,” he said. “Offensively, (I) just have that confidence of knowing what to do, where to be, you know, how to impact the game, set people up, be aggressive, stretch the floor, create mismatches.”

And his goal, when all is said and done in his final year of a long college career, is to have left every bit of it out on the floor. 

“I want to be the best player I've ever been,” he said. “(I want) to be a complete package, the highest confidence I've ever had, helping the team win, and really just show the best version of myself.” 


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