New Haven Register (New Haven, CT)
Creating chances
Sanogo’s range may mean more minutes for Clingan
OMAHA, Neb. — Maybe it was symbolic of the strange nature of Saturday's loss to Creighton. Maybe it was symbolic of Adama Sanogo's ability to improve an aspect of his game.
Maybe it was a little of both. Either way, the fact that UConn men's basketball coach Dan Hurley wished that Sanogo had shot more than the seven 3-pointers he attempted in a 56-53 loss at CHI Health Center would have been hard to predict just a few months ago.
Sanogo, a terrific low-post player with good footwork and moves, had attempted exactly one 3-pointer over his first two seasons in Storrs. It missed. But since 6-foot-9 low-post players (or even 7-foot low-post players) are an anachronism in today's NBA, and since Sanogo wants to play in the NBA as badly as any Husky since Ryan Boatright, he knew he had to expand his game and his range.
“That's something I really wanted to do,” Sanogo said after Saturday's game. “I worked on it the last two years in the summer.”
“Like any great player,” Hurley added, “he develops skills quickly.”
After hitting a career-high three 3-pointers on Saturday, Sanogo is now shooting 40 percent from distance this season. That's the same as likely NBA first-round draft pick Jordan Hawkins, and second only to guard Joey Calcaterra (42.3 percent overall, though just 26.5 percent in Big East play).
In fact, in Big East games only, Sanogo is shooting a teambest 42.9 percent from 3, well ahead of Hawkins' 38.3 percent. Yes, it's in a much smaller sample size — 9-for-21 in the Big East, 16-for-40 overall. But it's representative enough to make Sanogo's 3-point prowess more than just a fluke. And after he hit all three treys in the first half on Saturday, it was enough to make Hurley rue the fact that
Sanogo attempted just two from beyond the arc in the latter half.
“I'm mad at him a little bit right now,” Hurley said after the game. “I thought he should have shot two or three more 3's in the second half. I thought he shot-faked air. I think for us to win that game, it almost felt at halftime like he's going to have to make another 3 or two, just to get (7-footer Ryan) Kalkbrenner thinking about running towards the line a little more. I just wished if he would have shot a couple more in the second half. I wouldn't have minded if he had walked out of this one shooting nine 3's ... maybe 10.”
Imagine hearing that even a few months ago.
In truth, Kalkbrenner was more cognizant of Sanogo's shooting in the second half, something Sanogo notcied.
“Every time I popped out, they were right there,” he explained. “They didn't guard me like they did in the first half.”
There was another number that would have been hard to imagine even a few months ago: Donovan Clingan played just seven minutes. They were a very effective seven minutes: Seven rebounds, four points (including an alley-oop dunk from Hassan Diarra), and a blocked shot so powerful it probably should have counted as two. But still, just seven minutes.
For a player who was MVP of the Huskies' shining moment this season, a Phil Knight Invitational championship, and who was legitimately one of the better big men in the nation the first couple months of the season, seven minutes seems illogical. There's a reason there are people wearing “Play Donovan More” t-shirts at home games.
Obviously, the strong play of Sanogo, who finished with a team-high 17 points, 10 rebounds and those three 3-pointers, had a lot to do with that. Hurley has long preached that dominant play from the center position is a major key to the Huskies' success, and UConn's centers finished with a stat line of 21 points and 17 rebounds. That'll work.
Still, Clingan needs to play more than just seven minutes. Or even the 11.8 minutes he's averaging in Big East play. Obviously, when Sanogo is having a tough game, that would invite more minutes for the 7-foot-2 freshman. But when Sanogo is going well, the only way to get Clingan more playing time is to play him and Sanogo together.
It's not something Hurley likes to do, and has had varying degrees of success in the few times it's happened this season. It impacts literally everything the Huskies do: shortening the guard rotation, moving Alex Karaban to small forward, changing virtually everything the team runs offensively, likely needing to play zone defense.
Not all of those feel like bad options. Playing 2-3 zone, for instance, with Clingan clogging the middle could help lessen opponents' guard penetration (a major issue lately) and cut down on some of UConn's foul issues. Hurley has never been a big fan of playing zone.
But Sanogo's improvement as a 3-point shooter may be the biggest reason why pairing him with Clingan might work. No one is suggesting Sanogo camp out beyond the arc all game. But his threat from distance could open things up for Clingan in the paint, and maybe even help with UConn's other major conundrum of the season — what to do with Andre Jackson. If Jackson, who is disrespectfully left wide-open on the perimeter by opponents, can play on the block or roam the base line a few more minutes per game, can it hurt?
Pairing Clingan with Sanogo doesn't have to be something the Huskies do for 40 minutes. Even five or six minutes a game gets Clingan at least up to the 15-20 per game range.
It's something the staff debates constantly. Ultimately, the Huskies are 19-7, ranked No. 9 in the NET, and have just five more winnable games left in the regular season. It's unlikely Hurley will make any radical changes at this point.
But just as Hurley wanted to see Adama Sanogo shoot more 3-pointers on Saturday, he should also want to “play Donovan more.”