UConn visits Florida
There are 20 players named to the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award preseason watch list for the nation’s best center each October.
The UConn men’s basketball team has faced four of those players in each of its last four games. On Wednesday, the Huskies will face their fifth in a row.
Colin Castleton, a 6-foot-11 fifth-year senior, is the big man on campus for Florida, which hosts UConn on Wednesday at 9 p.m. Castleton, who began his career at Michigan before transferring following his sophomore season, leads the Gators in scoring (16.6 ppg) and rebounding (7.4). He’s poured in 33 against Kennesaw State and 30 in a home loss to Florida Atlantic, though his production has cooled off a bit over his past few games, in part due to foul trouble.
He’s just the latest in a string of talented big men that UConn has faced, and will continue to face, this season. The Huskies will play nine of their 31 regular-season games against teams with players named to the Jabbar Award watch list. In its past four games, UConn has faced Oregon’s Kel’el Ware, Alabama’s Charles Bediako, Iowa State’s Osun Osunniyi and Oklahoma State’s Moussa Cisse. The Huskies will also play two games against Creighton’s Ryan Kalkbrenner and two against Xavier’s Jack Nunge once Big East play begins.
So far, UConn has done a pretty good job against those players. Ware had 18 points and nine rebounds off the bench, but it hardly mattered in a 24-point UConn win. Bediako was held to just three points in 18 foul-plagued minutes. Osunniyi had 14 points and three rebounds in an 18-point Husky win. Cisse also ran into foul troubles and went scoreless in UConn’s 10-point win on Thursday night.
Of course, UConn has a player of its own on that top-20 Jabbar list. Adama Sanogo, who was among the five finalists for the award last season, might be the early frontrunner this time around. He leads the fifth-ranked Huskies in scoring (18.7 ppg) and rebounding (6.9) and has added a 3-point shot to his repertoire, hitting 7 for 16 (43.8 percent) so far.
And when Sanogo goes to the bench with foul trouble or just for rest, UConn doesn’t suffer much of a letdown in production. Seven-foot-2 freshman Donovan Clingan of Bristol is second to Kalkbrenner in the Big East in field goal percentage at 67.4 percent, and is among the leaders in rebounding (6.2) and blocked shots (2.0) as well.
And it was Clingan, the back-up center, who was named Most Valuable Player at the Phil Knight Invitational last week.
Dan Hurley has consistently said he feels he has one of the best big men combinations in the country. That has proven to be accurate over the past four games, and will be tested again on Wednesday night.