The UConn men's basketball team will need to find ways to win without its star center for the next few weeks as Donovan Clingan recovers from another foot injury.
Despite being in a boot and khakis, Donovan Clingan couldn’t help but spend most of UConn’s game against St. John’s on his feet.
In his spot between fellow Bristol native Andre Johnson Jr. and program assistant Chris Mastrangelo, Clingan consistently encouraged the sold-out crowd, turning and waving his 7-foot-7 wingspan as the noise in the XL Center, at times, grew thunderous.
When backup Samson Johnson threw down a two-handed dunk to tie the game early in the second half, Clingan pointed to his ring finger in celebration and had some words for the Red Storm – just a reminder. And, when third-stringer Youssouf Singare scored the first bucket of his collegiate career – a layup off a bounce pass from Cam Spencer with 13 minutes left – Clingan extended his arms as if to hold back his teammates, all of them with genuine excitement for the freshman.
“He’s a great guy and he’s a big personality, but we need his ass on the court,” head coach Dan Hurley said after the come-from-behind, 69-65 win.
The Huskies will have to play the next few weeks without Clingan, who injured a tendon in his right foot during the Big East opener at Seton Hall and was given a 3-4 week timeline for his return on Saturday. The injury, Hurley said, is not related to the foot strain that kept the star sophomore sidelined for about a month heading into the season.
He had just been nearing 100% health before the latest setback.
“He’s got to get his weight down over the holidays and over the next couple of weeks so that he doesn’t have any problems with his feet moving forward,” Hurley said and then looked directly into the camera as if he was speaking to Clingan face-to-face: “I know he’s on social – gotta get into the 270s so that we can have him on the court.
“It’s tough – he affects the game like very few players in the country affect the game. Top programs, you lose somebody like Zach Edey at Purdue, he has that type of impact for us on both ends of the court. He just changes the game. So, great spirit, great kid, but boot, bad. Travel suit, bad.”
Edey, the 7-foot-4 center who was the consensus national player of the year last season, is averaging 24 points, 10.4 rebounds and 2.4 blocks per game as a senior this year. Clingan has shown the potential for that type of production, but the injuries have complicated his start to this season.
The UConn bench reacts after a basket by Samson Johnson (35) during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game against St. John’s, Saturday, Dec. 23, 2023, in Hartford, Conn. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)
Without him, much of the pressure falls on Johnson, who answered the bell about as well as he could’ve when he matched up with St. John’s center Joel Soriano, another one of the best bigs in the country, in just his second collegiate start on Saturday. Johnson finished with 16 points (7 of 10) and four rebounds, a block and a steal, in 30 minutes – the Huskies were plus-13 on the scoreboard with him on the floor.
“I don’t think I’ve ever been prouder of a guy stepping in for such a critical piece,” Hurley said. “If he didn’t play like that we had no chance.”
The biggest concern with Johnson in the lead role is frontcourt depth. Averaging 2.7 fouls per game, Johnson came one whistle shy of fouling out against the Johnnies and has finished with four fouls on five different occasions this year.
Hurley turned to a smaller lineup with 6-8 forward Alex Karaban at the five for about four minutes in order to manage foul trouble. In that small lineup, Karaban was surrounded by guards Hassan Diarra, Tristen Newton, Stephon Castle and Spencer for six possessions, according to cbbanalytics.com. Solo Ball filled in for Castle on two possessions as UConn was minus-four on the scoreboard with its small lineup on the court.
When Karaban got into foul trouble himself, Hurley had to turn to little-used freshman Singare, an athletic 6-10 big who is still developing and adjusting to the college game. He played just less than six minutes and finished with two points and a rebound, the team minus-five while he was on the court.
Singare had thought about taking a redshirt year, preserving his eligibility, but opted against it – a huge bonus for the program, especially with Clingan out.
“He’s got unbelievable spirit,” Hurley said. “He had no real time to prepare for this, we didn’t really have an offensive package for this. Donovan’s injury, we really didn’t become too aware of the severity of it until Thursday (Dec. 21) later in the day and then we basically had a one-day prep and we didn’t have a package of things to run for (Singare) versus man (defense) or matchup zone, or versus pressure.
“He’s got to give us minutes now and I thought he was solid in there.”
The schedule is on the Huskies’ side in terms of Clingan’s recovery. He will have missed just two games in his first two weeks out as the holiday break provides 10 days between the St. John’s game and UConn’s first game of the new year against DePaul on Jan. 2. Week three of Clingan’s absence features games at Butler and Xavier – two teams without a truly dominant five-man – before the Huskies host Georgetown and Creighton in week four , the matchup with Creighton’s Ryan Kalkbrenner being one that the Huskies (11-2, 1-1 Big East) would especially love to have Clingan back for.
But then it’s a trip to Villanova on Jan. 20, followed by another week without games – extra recovery time if needed.
“This guy’s gonna get a nice long rest here and he’s gonna come back at full strength,” Hurley said. “And this team will be better, obviously, for it because of the growth of other players. It’s not gonna look as pretty, we’ve got to find ways to win until we get that real game-changing type of player back. And then we’ll be back to being in top form.”