MEN’S BASKETBALL GAMEDAY

NO. 18 CREIGHTON AT NO. 1 UCONN

When: Wednesday, 7 p.m.

Where: Gampel Pavilion

Records: Creighton 13-4 (4-2 Big East), UConn 15-2 (5-1 Big East)

TV: FS1

Radio: UConn Sports Network, WAVZNew Haven (1300 AM), WGCH- Greenwich (1490 AM), WATR-Waterbury (1320 AM), WICH-Norwich (1310 AM, 94.5 FM), WILI-Willimantic (1400 AM, 95.3 FM), Fox Sports 97.9 FM Hartford, SiriusXM-983, SXM App 973

KEEP AN EYE ON

In this day and age of the transfer portal and NIL money, it’s rare for players to stick around with a program for four years.

And with that, it’s rare for players to develop into villains with other program’s fan bases. But if the UConn men’s basketball team has an opposing player who fits that bill, it’s Creighton’s Ryan Kalkbrenner.

UConn has gone 1-6 against Creighton since rejoining the Big East, and Kalkbrenner has been around for all of it. He was a spindly, backup center in the Bluejays’ overtime win at Gampel Pavilion in December, 2020 and, later that season, Creighton’s crushing, Big East Tournament semifinal win over the Huskies at Madison Square Garden. He dominated Adama Sanogo with 22 points and 10 rebounds in a March, 2022 win in Omaha, then got dominated by Sanogo twice last season.

In fact, Kalkbrenner helped spark one of UConn’s few bright moments of last January. Dan Hurley alerted Sanogo and the rest of the team prior to a Jan. 7 bout with Creighton about comments by Kalkbrenner, in which he seemed to question why Sanogo, and not he, was preseason league player of the year, and relished in the Huskies having never beaten the Bluejays. Inspired, Sanogo went out and poured in 26 points around and over Kalkbrenner, who finished with a harmless nine points in a 69-60 UConn victory.

That was the Huskies’ lone victory during a torturous, six-game stretch last January.

This season, the anticipation was for “Kalkbrenner vs. Sanogo” to be replaced by “Kalkbrenner vs. Clingan.” But Donovan Clingan, the Huskies’ 7-2 sophomore center, has been sidelined by a foot ailment for the past five games. UConn has won all five games and ascended to No. 1 in the country, but it’s obvious by some defensive ineffectiveness and rebounding troubles that the Huskies need “Cling Kong” back.

Will that be on Wednesday night? Doesn’t seem too likely. Hurley said after Sunday’s win over Georgetown that we’re now on “Cling Kong Watch,” and Clingan certainly looked good during pregame warm-ups. But the coach also stressed he wouldn’t rush Clingan back, Kalkbrenner or no Kalkbrenner. And even if Clingan

does return on Wednesday, it won’t be as a starter, and will likely be in brief spurts throughout the game, similar to last season when he backed up Sanogo.