The Return of D-onovan
The Story: If you were worried over the last several weeks about UConn’s average defense, fear not, Donovan Clingan is back in the paint, which is once again closed for business.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: Dan Hurley‘s team is always tough as nails and great defensively. Even after his “Come to Jesus” moment a year ago, when he went all in on offensive versatility and shooting, the defense was always vintage Hurley. That changed a bit in late December once Clingan went down with a foot injury.
• The Huskies, who were top 10 in offense and defense in KenPom’s advanced metrics, soon fell to 47th in defense.
• Clingan’s absence resulted in a lot of Samson Johnson at the 5 and Alex Karaban filling in and the Huskies playing small. The offense didn’t miss a beat, but teams exploited the lack of rim protection and got into the paint.
• That has changed when Clingan, who has the Huskies back into a defensive mindset, moved back into the starting lineup and had a dominating performance in a 99-56 win over Xavier on Sunday. The Huskies are moving back up the charts and are now 23rd in defensive rating.
CLINGAN’S DOMINANCE: Let’s talk about how dominant Clingan and UConn’s defense were on Sunday. With Clingan manning the paint, Xavier, one of the Big East’s better offensive teams, scored just four points in the paint in the first half.
• Here’s the best stat we’ve ever seen about Clingan’s impact. In the 34 possessions when Clingan was on the floor, Xavier scored 12 points. That’s a microscopic 0.33 points per possession.
• Taking it deeper, the Huskies are very difficult to score against in the paint. UConn is fourth with a 40.2 field goal percentage defense on 2-point shots.
BOTTOM LINE: UConn’s defense is trending up, the offense is as good as anyone’s in the country and Stephon Castle is looking more comfortable every day and turning into an elite perimeter defender. The Huskies enter February as the No. 1 team and have the talent to stay there for quite a while.
HAWKINS AT HOME: It was nice to see Jordan Hawkins at the game on Sunday, and while he’s not getting regular minutes for the Pelicans, he’s in a good spot.
MSG A SELLOUT: Tickets for UConn’s game against St. John’s on Saturday at Madison Square Garden are nearly sold out. UConn is No. 1 and St. John’s has slick Rick Pitino helping make Big Apple hoops the place to be once again.
— John Silver
Morning Reads
• The UConn women fell back out of the top 10 and landed at No. 11 in the Associated Press poll yesterday afternoon.
• Ben Gordon has faced mental health challenges and has been arrested several times in recent years, but he attended the Huskies' alumni celebration over the weekend with the support of his former teammates and coach Jim Calhoun.
• The football team received a commitment yesterday from Caleb Smith, a quarterback from Staples High in Westport who was the GameTimeCT State Football Player of the Year. He's joining the program as a walk-on.
Top photo: Donovan Clingan dunks in the Huskies’ game against Northern Arizona. (Ian Bethune for The UConn Daily)
