A big question
How would lengthy absence for Clingan affect UConn’s fortunes?
Remember when some were disappointed by Donovan Clingan’s start to the season? Imagine going any length of time — or, God forbid, the rest of the season — without the big man from Bristol in the middle?
While the latter scenario would appear highly unlikely, it’s equally likely that Clingan, the UConn men’s basketball team’s 7-foot-2 center, won’t be available for Saturday’s showdown with St. John’s at XL Center. After spraining his ankle early in the second half of
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Wednesday night’s loss at Seton Hall, Clingan was in obvious pain as he limped off the floor and into the locker room with trainer James Doran.
He returned to the bench not too long afterwards, running in place a few times to test out how his ankle felt. As UConn’s fourpoint deficit gradually devolved into a 15-point loss, Clingan politicked to return to the game. But apparently, Doran nixed that idea.
“Tough kid,” Hurley said afterwards.
Indeed, playing through pain is nothing new for Clingan. He’s returned to action just a few days after a bad ankle sprain in the past, remained in a game after cracking then losing his front tooth following a pair of hits to the mouth, and got back from an offseason foot injury as soon as he could to start the Huskies’ Nov. 6 season-opener.
But the sight of Clingan leaving the UConn locker room with a walking boot on his right foot on Wednesday night would seem to indicate he’s probably a no-go for the St. John’s game. Foot/ankle injuries are no joke for big men — especially 280-pound big men.
And while the Huskies could certainly use Clingan going up against Joel Soriano, the Big East’s leading rebounder and third-leading scorer, there are other concerns Hurley must weigh. Namely, Clingan’s potential as an NBA lottery pick this summer. There is no sense putting Clingan’s future at risk for the sake of playing on Saturday night.
Obviously, winning college basketball games is important. No doubt, Clingan would love to play at sold-out XL Center Saturday night with Rick Pitino in town. But Hurley would never
had suffered a sprained ankle and was seen sporting a walking boot on his right foot after the game.
“He made a play to try to get back in the game, but I don’t think that was what the trainer wanted,” coach Dan Hurley said. “But, tough kid, wanted to get back in.”
Meanwhile UConn, which trailed by just four when Clingan got injured, wound up with its worst loss in nearly four years.
Kadary Richmond scored 23 points and swiped eight steals to lead Seton Hall to a 75-60 romp over the fifth-ranked Huskies. It matches the Huskies’ worst loss since a Jan. 4, 2020 loss at South Florida by the exact same 75-60 score.
“We’ve all got to own it,” a disconsolate Hurley said afterwards. “That was not reminiscent of a top team. That was a pretty embarrassing performance for all of us, myself first in line. To have one of my teams in a conference opener go on the road and perform like this, I’m having a hard time even looking (the media) in the eyes when you ask me a question. There’s a real feeling of shame there.”
“To be honest,” forward Alex Karaban added, “we weren’t ready to play, we didn’t show up, we weren’t the tough team, we didn’t play to the UConn identity. We didn’t do anything that we had done during the nonconference slate. That’s what happens. You don’t show up ready in the Big East, you get your ass kicked.”
And why weren’t the Huskies (10-2) ready to play, especially considering last season’s heartbreaking, 67-66 loss to the Hall in this same building?
“I don’t know if we were too complacent about what happened in nonconference, or if we thought this would be an easy game,” Karban answered. “But clearly, no game is easy in the Big East, and we’ve got to show up ready every game. Because we know every game is going to be a dogfight.”
This was UConn’s first Big East regular-season loss since losing at Creighton last season on Feb. 11. It’s the Huskies’ first double-digit loss since an 8574 loss to St. John’s on Jan. 15 in Hartford.
UConn hosts the Johnnies,
now coached by Rick Pitino, on Saturday night in Hartford.
“We have to turn the page quickly,” Hurley warned.
Richmond cemented his reputation as a Huskykiller for Seton Hall (8-4). Two years ago, the 6-6 guard scored what was then a career-high 27 points, including a whopping 17 in a row at one point, in the Hall’s overtime win over UConn.
On Wednesday, Richmond’s more modest 7-0 personal run helped spur the Pirates’ 15-2 first-half run that helped stake them a 34-29 lead at halftime.
“Kadary’s a tough cover. We’ve been dealing with him for an eternity,” Hurley noted. “If he sees no bodies and driving gaps, and he plays in space with his size and what he can do downhill to the rim, he’s as good as there is at that size with the ball.”
Added Newton, who guarded Richmond for much of the game: “He’s big and strong, he’s good in the post. He’s just a good player. He’s able to get downhill, he’s very physical, good at attacking the rim and good at finishing at the rim.”
No doubt, the absence of Clingan in the paint over the final 16 1⁄2 minutes hurt the Huskies.
“We would have kept throwing it in there,” Hurley said, noting that Clingan scored 14 points in 14 minutes. “It settles the game down. We’re not a team full of great 1-on-1 players. It not only hurt us from a low-post scsoring perspective. It kind of demoralizes the opponent when they can’t stop the big. But he’s also a really good passer at the top of the key. It hurt us. And obviously, it killed our rim defense, because we were pathetic at the rim.”
But ultimately, the defending national champs weren’t offering any excuses on Wednesday night.
“I coached bad, I prepared the team bad ... everybody on the team, minus Donovan on offense, had a bad game,” Hurley said. “(Thursday’s) going to be brutal. The video session is going to be crushing. Because whatever the players think happened out there, when they see the film, it doesn’t lie. Some of the 1-on-1 things, as soft as we were.”
“We’ll react appropriately,” he added, “because when we lose at UConn, everyone hurts.”
Wednesday
Seton Hall 75, No. 5 UConn 60