LAWRENCE, Kansas — Donovan Clingan had this one circled on his calendar as soon as it was announced.
As the fourth-ranked UConn men’s basketball team prepares to meet fifth-ranked Kansas for its first true road game of the year on Friday, the Huskies’ sophomore center has a chance to measure himself up against one of college basketball’s best in the Jayhawks’ Hunter Dickinson.
Dickinson was an AP first-team All-American before the season, his first at Kansas after three years as the star at Michigan. He is the second of nine centers on UConn’s schedule named to the preseason watch list alongside Clingan for the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar award, for the best center in college basketball.
“This is gonna teach me a lot, also playing against one of the best bigs in the country is gonna make me better,” Clingan said Wednesday after practice in Storrs. “I have to go out there and prove myself and we, as a team, have to go out there and show everyone who we are.”
Clingan hasn’t been one to shy from the moment.
When the Huskies built a lead over Florida in their first true road test last season, the first of Clingan’s career, he was performing the “Gator Chomp” on the bench – an image that circulated on social media, serving as a symbol for the Huskies’ early season success.
Dickinson, with seemingly different intentions, has built himself into one of college basketball’s biggest villains with his antics, on and off the court, since his sophomore year at Michigan. One instance last year, after previously calling Wisconsin fans “scumbags” on his Roundball podcast, Dickinson showed up to the game in Madison wearing a ski mask.
But leading into Friday’s matchup, both have been respectful and complementary of each other’s game. No personal rivalry, like Dickinson’s feud with his former Big 10 rival Badgers, exists… yet.
“It will be a lot of fun,” Dickinson, a senior, told reporters in Lawrence on Thursday. “I love going against great competition especially when they’re the same size as me. I know that usually my teams tend to win when I win my matchup and so I know that’ll be a big thing for me. But it’s definitely going to be a collective effort, he’s a really good player.”
But the Kansas crowd, which had students lining up and camping out for their spot in the student section days before the game, won’t be expected to hold back.
“It kinda gives you more energy and it kinda makes you want to do better,” Clingan said. “You got the whole stadium going against you and hoping you lose so that just makes us want to win even more and that fires us up. We just want to win.”
“(Clingan)’s got some special qualities about him in terms of the mental makeup,” UConn head coach Dan Hurley said. “He looks at these like big opportunities and exciting moments and he understands the challenge of playing against the front line of (K.J.) Adams and Dickinson and what this thing is gonna be on Friday night atmosphere-wise.
“He’s a type of human being that understands the challenge, gets excited about the challenge and wants to go out there and attack the moment. He’s not been one that’s kind of turtled up in these types of situations. Those are the guys that we need to continue to recruit.”
Defensively, Dickinson provides an added challenge as a capable shooter. He is 8 of 13 from deep (61.5%) this season and shot 42.8% on 57 attempts last year while at Michigan. He is shooting 67% from the field on the year while leading the Jayhawks with 21.2 points and 12.7 rebounds per game.
“Obviously concern A is the damage he could do on the offensive glass and the low post, in the ball-screen and roll game, but you’ve legitimately got to deal with him out to the 3-point line as a trailer and then pick-and-pops,” Hurley said. “Hunter’s been one of the best centers in the country for the last couple of years and it’s gonna take a team defensive effort and a team offensive effort for us to be successful versus Kansas.
“He’s just such a technician and such a polished player and he plays with tremendous confidence, and a little bit of rage mixed in there. This isn’t a Donovan-Hunter matchup. Donovan is gonna need his teammates to be in the right spots for him.”
Clingan looked as comfortable as he has all season and scored a career-high 29 points in UConn’s last game against New Hampshire. He said Wednesday that he’s “finally” not feeling any pain or soreness in his foot, which he strained in the preseason and missed a month before rushing back for the season-opener.
He wasn’t at 100% when he met Indiana’s 7-footer Kel’el Ware, also on the Abdul-Jabbar watch list, during the Empire Classic. The big men nullified each other for the most part in that game with Clingan finishing with seven points and nine rebounds, two blocks and two steals. Ware had 11 points and eight boards.
“It’s gonna be a full 40-minute game and I can’t take any possessions off, the whole team can’t,” Clingan said. “They’ll sniff out the weaknesses and they’ll see that we’re getting tired or that we took back and they’ll attack us. So we’ve got to give our all for a full 40 minutes.”