They are the reigning National Champions. They sit atop the AP Top 25 rankings for a fifth straight week. They are currently occupying the penthouse in the BIG EAST standings. And as they enter their Wednesday night conference encounter with DePaul they have lost just once in the last 75 days.
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They are the No. 1 scoring team in the BIG EAST. No. 1 in defense, too. In fact they are the tops in 10 different categories in the BIG EAST so far this season, equally spread out among offensive and defensive statistics.
So what makes the UConn Huskies (22-2, 12-1 BIG EAST) such a formidable outfit? Donovan Clingan thinks it has to do with not just the Huskies’ quality lineup, but the quantity of superb players occupying head coach Dan Hurley’s prized stable of talent.
“We got depth and we got weapons,” said Clingan, the Huskies’ 7-2, 280-pound sophomore center who goes by the nickname, Cling-Kong, for obvious reasons. “It can be anyone’s night for us because everyone has just fallen in love with the offense. That’s something coach emphasizes with us. It’s just falling in love with the offense and the shots will come to you. And everyone on the floor realizes that. And coach also wants us to defend the ball so well. Obviously we went through a tough stretch to start BIG EAST play on the defensive end but we’ve really turned it up a bit.”
That tough stretch Clingan mentioned lasted all of one game, a conference-opening loss at Seton Hall. Since that Dec. 20 defeat, it’s been pretty much smooth sailing for the Huskies as they routinely flex their muscles in win after win after win.
So does this team have any weaknesses to speak of?
“I don’t think there are many,” Clingan said. “We just have to keep rebounding the ball the way we have the last (three) games because before those games, we really weren’t rebounding the ball well. We were giving a lot of these teams second opportunities. So that’s one thing we still have to keep working on and get better.”
That depth Clingan spoke of was never more apparent than when Clingan injured his foot in that Seton Hall loss and was forced to miss the next five games. All UConn wins, by the way. But that didn’t make missing those games any easier for Clingan to take.
“It was very frustrating,” said Clingan, who is averaging 12.2 points and 6.4 rebounds per outing. “I was in a lot of pain and I realized I had to let my foot heal. But I knew how hard Samson (Johnson) and Alex (Karaban) were working so I knew they were going to hold it down. But it was scary though. When I hurt my foot in that Seton Hall game I thought it was hurt worse than it actually was. So I was happy with the outcome.”
After an 8-0 January gave way to a 3-0 February so far, the Huskies have found themselves nestled atop the national rankings for over a month. These Huskies have grown accustomed to being college basketball’s top dogs, even if they don’t necessarily talk about it all that often.
“To be honest with you we really don’t talk about being No. 1. The biggest thing is we can’t get complacent,” Clingan said. “We have to keep being hungry and that’s what me and Alex and coach and all the older guys try to force on everyone, that we have to try and get better and better each day and just push for one win at a time. That’s how you win the regular season. You can’t slip up in any games. You’ve got to win every game you can.”
It’s become painfully easy for the Huskies to do just that, especially with a cast of elite players that includes Karaban, Tristen Newtown, Cam Spencer and Stephon Castle among others. It’s an embarrassment of riches for the Huskies, who learned a valuable lesson in that long ago loss to Seton Hall.
“We watched the film after we lost to Seton Hall and the one thing I told everyone, ‘Just look at the way we’re moving around. We’re not having fun at all,’” Clingan said. “And that’s why we struggled the way we did in that game. Now you look at the film of our latest games and we’re running around, having a blast out there and that's why we’re succeeding because everyone wants to be there for one another and everyone wants to watch the other person do well. That's why this team is so fun to play with.”
Newton is a top 15 scorer in the conference at 15.6 points a game with Spencer right behind him at 15.5 per outing. Clingan leads the BIG EAST in field goal percentage at 64.4 percent while Karaban is 10th in three-pointers made. And Castle? He’s only been honored as BIG EAST Freshman of the Week seven times.
Talk about picking your poison.
For a program that lost Adama Sanogo, Andre Jackson and Jordan Hawkins from last year’s national championship team, it doesn’t seem like the Huskies have missed a beat this season. That loss to Seton Hall, along with a four-point loss to then No. 5 Kansas on Dec. 1, are the only blemishes that stand between UConn and perfection.
And that makes for a very intimidating team to deal with, no?
“I don’t know if I’d say we’re intimidating but sometimes we start the game real slow and that can give a team a little boost of energy,” Clingan said. “But the one thing we’ve been doing recently and what we’ve got to keep doing is to come out of the gate and punch teams in the face. Just attack them off the jump and that’s something that we’ve been doing and have to keep doing.”
And though they landed the national championship hardware last season, the Huskies still have some unfinished business they would like to take care of this season. They won neither the BIG EAST regular season title nor the conference tournament championship last year with Marquette sweeping those honors. It makes a hungry Huskies bunch all the more ravenous.
So there is a lot to still accomplish for UConn this season. The Huskies currently have the inside track at the regular-season title and the No. 1 seed in next month’s BIG EAST Tournament, where they are sure to make a spirited run at the tourney title. Then, and only then, they can start thinking about a possible national championship repeat. But just not yet.
“That’s all in the background right now. We’re locked into the next game and try to win the regular season (title),” Clingan said. “After the regular season is over we’ll move on and go to MSG and take care of business there. We can’t put our minds on something that comes after all that. We can’t put our minds on the NCAA Tournament when we still have to worry about the regular season and the BIG EAST Tournament.”
So far this season, worry has been the other guy’s problem when facing the Huskies. So don’t count UConn out of anything, even pulling off the triple crown of regular-season champs, BIG EAST Tournament champs and repeat national champs.
After all, there’s just that one loss in the last 75 days. Seventy-five days. And counting.