NEW YORK — Those headed for stardom recognize the moment, in college basketball that month-long moment in which we are now all embroiled, when it is time to move from projection and potential into full-blown performance.
Donovan Clingan has reached that moment and is acting upon it. He is no longer considered an NBA player, a possible lottery pick. He is playing like one, and how much scarier the UConn men appear as a result.
“He’s realized how dominant, and how big he is,” Tristen Newton was saying Sunday night, after UConn polished off the Northwestern 75-58 in the NCAA Round of 16 at Barclays Center. “He’s the tallest one out there, we feel like he should make every layup. His defense has been real good all year. He was hurt for a little bit, he’s back 100 percent healthy and he’s playing like the player we felt he should have been the whole year. He’s picking it up at the right time, and we need him to do it.”
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This second-round matchup was made for a dominant Donovan. Northwestern’s big man, 7-footer Matt Nicholson, might have been able to hold his own against Clingan, 7-2, but he was lost for the season with a foot injury in early March and the available Wildcats had no chance, any more than overmatched Stetson did in the first round. Clingan had 14 points, 14 rebounds and eight blocks, narrowly missing a rare kind of triple double.
“He’s dominating these games the way that he and Adama (Sanogo) dominated these games last March,” coach Dan Hurley said.
Sanogo was the lead, Clingan the understudy for the national champs of 2023. When Clingan, from Bristol Central, proposed to fans at the parade, “let’s run it back,” and chose to come back for a second season, it was intended for him to morph into what he has looked like in UConn’s first five postseason games — 74 points, 50 rebounds, 16 blocks in the Big East tournament and first two rounds of March Madness, which the Huskies have gobbled up like hor d’oeuvres.
“I feel healthier and lighter than I’ve ever felt,” Clingan said. “I just really got my confidence back and I’m just trying to fly around the court and do whatever my team needs me to do.”
It’s always tricky business, this NBA-lottery chatter. Most freshmen, or sophomores, look far from ready to be NBA players, but that is not the point. The pros want to get raw talent, get players while they’re young and develop them. It’s not about being “ready for the NBA,” it’s about being ready to be drafted high enough to make it counterintuitive to return to college.
That’s where Andre Drummond, who has gone on to have a productive NBA career, was when he was UConn’s one-and-done center in 2011-12. This is where Clingan and Stephon Castle are now.
As a freshman, Clingan averaged 13 minutes a game. Hurley didn’t think Clingan and Sanogo playing together would work — the national championship justified that — and he thought Clingan needed to be in better shape to play more minutes.
Donovan Clingan had one of the best defensive performances we’ve seen all season helping UConn advance to the Sweet 16. Put a lid on the rim with 14 points, 14 rebounds, and 10 blocks. pic.twitter.com/DBs4BVrJqP
— Jonathan Givony (@DraftExpress) March 25, 2024
With Sanogo gone, this season was to be Clingan’s to make his own, but it started with a foot injury in the preseason, and another that kept him out of action at the start of Big East play. Throughout, Hurley called, not so subtly, for Clingan to drop some pounds before he returned.
On Jan. 17, Clingan came back to play against Creighton and Ryan Kalkbrenner and his resurgence began. After a sluggish first half against Xavier in the Big East quarterfinal, Clingan has been all of Hurley’s pet name for him: Cling Kong.
“When he came back that second time, he came back lighter, with absolutely no pain,” Hurley said. “He was dealing with pain the whole non-conference and the beginning of Big East play. Just getting healthy, getting the weight down, and now he’s gotten enough games under his belt healthy and in great shape that he is a dominator.”
No more tentative play around the basket for Clingan. He has been finishing with authority. No fear of foul trouble; he didn’t pick up his only foul until late in the game Sunday. He protected the rim. When Northwestern tried to shoot over him, he swatted it away easily. So they finally stopped doing that; Clingan had imposed his will on the game.
Players and staffers were hollering “dom-i-nant” in the joyous Huskies locker room.
“I was going into games with a bad mindset,” Clingan said. “Not underestimating my opponent, but not going in with the intensity I had to. I started working harder in practice, getting more shots up, attacking my opponents differently. I changed my mentality and I feel that’s what has helped me. Coming down the late stretch of the season, I just had to realize, realize it myself, that I’ve got to go out there and dominate because my team needs me this March.”
San Diego State is next, in a rematch of last year’s final to be played in Boston on Thursday night. Much sets these Huskies apart from the field of 68; they can have a bad perimeter-shooting night and still win, they so many weapons. But a big man with Clingan’s agility and court-sense, and the assertiveness to use to full advantage, it is something no one but Purdue, with Zach Edey, can touch. That matchup may be inevitable.
But as the Huskies were packing up to leave Brooklyn behind, it was clear what time it was. This is Dominant Donovan Clingan’s time.
“He’s focused, he’s had some great games, he’s locked in,” said Samson Johnson, Clingan’s solid backup. “Great players have great moments. And this is his moment.”