ALBANY — In the back corner of the UConn men’s basketball locker room Saturday afternoon, Donovan Clingan sat and chatted with time to kill, as if he had just cast his line into the water.
He was wearing a black Huskies Basketball zip-up hoodie and a black bucket hat with the NCAA March Madness logo, which he pulled out of a goody bag Saturday morning and then pulled on his forehead. It will come in handy as you fish this summer in streams and ponds in Bristol, and in ocean waters miles offshore.
“Bass, trout, deep-sea tuna, I love it all,” Clingan said. “Very relaxing.”
The bruise under Clingan’s right eye had yellowed and was almost gone. Trips to the dentist, first in December, then again in February, had replaced the tooth that had fallen out of his mouth twice this season and he was smiling, again and again, as he retraced the lightning-fast steps of the past 12 months. .
His first season at UConn has gone very well. The text messages are arriving from Bristol this week.
“Just tell me how proud you are and what it means to see someone from Bristol playing for Connecticut in March Madness,” Clingan said. “All my friends, really talking about how proud you are. I want to make them (prouder), keep winning and keep doing what I’m doing and keep getting better every day.”
The Huskies play a second-round game of the NCAA West Regional Tournament on Sunday against St. Mary’s at MVP Arena. A trip to Las Vegas and a ticket to the Sweet 16 are on the line and Clingan, the 7-foot-2 freshman center who stands out for many reasons, has managed to blend in as one of the Huskies’ many critical links.
On Sunday of a year ago, Clingan was at the Mohegan Sun Arena.
“On the 19th, yes, state championship game,” he said. “I was competing for a state championship a year ago. Now I am competing for a national championship. It’s crazy how time flies. High school was a time to remember. The memories I got from high school, playing in the state tournament and winning the state championship, are memories I will treasure forever.”
Clingan’s final high school game was a hallmark in one of the most celebrated runs in CIAC history.
On March 19, 2022, he had 25 points and 24 rebounds in Bristol Central’s 56-36 win over Northwest Catholic for the Division II title. center of 43rd Back-to-back victory brought home the program’s first championship since 1990.
On March 19, 2023, Clingan will try to help UConn to a second-place NCAA spot for the first time since 2014. The Huskies opened the tournament Friday with a win over Iona, a game they dominated on the inside. Adama Sanogo (28 and 13) and Clingan (12 and nine) combined for 41 points and 25 rebounds and was the latest reminder that UConn has something that few, if any, teams have inside.
There are a lot of points and a lot of rebounds in the center position.
“Especially in college,” Sanogo said. “Donovan and I know every game we put on, when Donovan plays well and I play well we always win those games. For us to win, we have to win our matchup. My God, Donovan, he helps me a lot, he helps the team. I once told him, ‘Donovan, last year, at the end of the season, I was very tired.’ But Donovan is there now. I’m very proud of him.’”
Clingan is averaging 7.2 points, 5.8 rebounds, 1.8 blocks and 13.2 minutes for the Huskies (26-8).
“We knew we were going to have an impact from him,” UConn coach Dan Hurley said. “However, sometimes we didn’t know that he would be so dominant.”
Clingan and Sanogo will be key for UConn’s game against St. Mary’s. The Huskies are second in the nation in rebounding margin at plus-9.2. The Gaels, ninth with plus-7.2, are led up front by center Mitchell Saxen (6-10), averaging 11.8 points and 7.8 rebounds, and forward Kyle Bowen (6-8), averaging 5.2 and 7.1.
Clingan has been waiting in the wings for moments like this for so long, it seems. He attended many UConn home games during his last two years at the Bristol Central, both before and after he got engaged. And he soon stopped being a Michigan fan.
“I watched UConn, I enjoyed watching UConn,” Clingan said. “I was a Michigan fan. But once it was time to decide which school I wanted to go to, I realized that UConn was the best option for me. Yes, because it’s like 45-50 minutes from my house. But at the same time, the coaching staff, the atmosphere, just the school itself has such a good history. I realized that I would be happier here.”
Can we review that for a moment? Michigan? Did Clingan not attend the UConn games in Hartford and Storrs, even when he was a little boy?
“I did,” he said. “But I was a die-hard Michigan fan. I always saw each of his games. But once I got to my third year, I thought, my favorite team means nothing. It’s about where I want to go. I definitely enjoyed going to the UConn games, but I was a Michigan fan.”
Hurley attended that championship game at Mohegan Sun, just two days after the Huskies were beaten in the first round of last season’s NCAA Tournament by New Mexico State in Buffalo.
A few months later, Clingan arrived in Storrs having transformed his body, losing about 25 pounds to 265. He embraced his summer matchups with Sanogo (6-9, 245).
“Trying to push him back like he was pushing back high school students, and he wasn’t going to get anywhere,” Clingan said. “It’s like trying to move a brick wall. Adama is the reason I keep improving. Fighting him, one of the best big men in the country, is a privilege for me. It also helps him, too. He doesn’t see too many two meters. Practicing against someone who is 7-2 definitely helps.”
Clingan never lacked confidence, never felt uncomfortable.
“He’s a guy who wants to do it,” said Sanogo, a captain who is tough on new players, creating immediate anticipation. “A lot of freshmen when they come, they see some things they don’t want to do. They want to go home. Donovan was not that kind of person. He was impressive”.
It’s been a joy for Clingan and his father, Bill, who celebrates his son’s achievements on social media. Clingan’s mother, Stacey Porrini Clingan, is Bristol Central’s all-time best rebounder and one of the main reasons Donovan stayed in public school. She was also a standout player at Maine and told Donovan long before her death in 2018 about the joys of playing in the NCAA Tournament. Her Maine team took the field three times, losing in a first-round game to UConn in 1995, her second season.
“My dad means a lot to me,” Clingan said. “I know that sometimes he gets happy on Twitter and stuff. I just know that he is proud of me and happy for me and he loves seeing me here at UConn. Obviously, since my mother passed away, he has always been there for me and has supported me in whatever decision he wanted to make. That’s all he could ask for.
Clingan was 5-for-7 from the field on Friday, including a monster dunk that came in the middle of all the world space and a difficult finish off glass in traffic while soaking up contact. His nine rebounds were two shy of his career high and the most he’s posted since 10 at Marquette on Jan. 11. His 12 points are the most since his career-high 20, also at Marquette.
“One thing the coach said is that this is March, the refs are not going to go looking for every call,” Clingan said. “You have to play through the physical.”
Neither Clingan nor Sanogo were called for a foul against Iona. That happened just one other time this season, on Dec. 10 against LIU. Clingan replaced Sanogo early and had eight points and eight rebounds at halftime. Sanogo rallied and dominated the second half, with 22 points and 10 rebounds.
“Trying to dominate and keep up with what he’s doing on the court is important to me to help my team win,” Clingan said. “If you have a center there that is playing well and you bring in another one that is not doing as well, that’s when the advantage can disappear.”
Clingan has been limping in recent weeks, having taken blows to the lower body. There’s the black eye, the elbows in the face, the dental damage. He really wants to go fishing. First, she wants to continue dancing.