STORRS — Adama Sanogo spent four months pushing and pulling the 2021-22 UConn men’s basketball team toward the top of the Big East and, by March, it was clear that responsibility came at a cost.
Sanogo played himself onto the national radar as a sophomore, named one of five finalists for the national Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center of the Year Award. He averaged 14.8 points, second on the Huskies to point guard RJ Cole’s 15.8, and a team-high 8.8 rebounds.
Sanogo was sometimes double-teamed and even triple-teamed through the season, increasingly so down the stretch. And while the footwork and touch that make him such a gifted player helped the Huskies toward the postseason with great momentum, he ultimately lacked the power resources from that point on.
Sanogo, of Bamako, Mali, averaged 29.2 minutes a game last season, not an unmanageable load overall. But he played 32-plus in nine of UConn’s final 10 games.
He was 6-for-15 from the field in a Big East Tournament semifinal loss to Villanova, unable to finish several shots at the rim that seemingly could have been dunked. In a first-round NCAA Tournament game against New Mexico State, a game in which he had a breakaway dunk attempt blocked from behind, he was 4-for-9.
“He was playing 37, 38 minutes in these games,” Hurley said. “We needed him to play that many minutes for us to be in the position we were — No. 5 [NCAA] seed, playing at the top of the Big East and everything we were able to accomplish, playing a top-25 season. He was pretty spent down the stretch. You could see it in the lack of lift he had at the Garden, and the lack of pop he probably had in the tournament.”
Sanogo’s UConn career is at least half over. A player of his skill and stature of him, should maturation and development continue, he should be testing the draft waters and see his stock of him rapidly rising by the end of his junior season.
He will be the fulcrum for a team that hopes to be otherwise defined by fluid guard play and a four outside, one inside style.
And he’ll have some help — at least 84 inches of it.
Donovan Clingana center of 7-plus feet from Bristol Central and the Connecticut Gatorade Player of the Yearwill join the Huskies as a freshman.
Clingan averaged 24.8 points, 17.2 rebounds and 6.4 blocks as a sophomore.
He averaged 27.3 points, 17.2 rebounds and 5.8 blocks as a junior.
And he averaged 30.1 points, 18.4 rebounds and 6.2 blocks as a senior.
Dominating the Central Connecticut Conference doesn’t mean being able to stand up straight in the Big East, though. Expectations should be tempered. Clingan has a lot to learn and a lot of development ahead.
Still, those expectations can include, at least, his participation as a member of the rotation and an ability to spell Sanogo as an inside presence, someone who can play defense and at least has to be accounted for near the basket.
It’s not easy to rely on any college freshman. It’s also not easy to have a junior do all the banging and wrestling in the paint and expect him to have much to offer when the season is on the line.
“Donovan’s offensive skill, I saw him the other day, he looked like he had lost I think around 20 pounds,” Hurley said. “That was good. Just got to get him into the type of condition, at the body weight, that he’s going to need to be at to be able to play at this level. But from a skill standpoint and a guy who has a motor and wants to be out there and believes in himself and thinks he’s a great player, he’s got all of that. He’ll help Adama a lot.”
Others will need to, as well. Hurley is focused on adding two more perimeter-oriented players to the roster.
Freshman Alex Karaban, Hurley said, can play both forward positions, but he’s more of a shooter than a post player. Sophomore Samson Johnson is a power forward, long, wiry. I have spent just about the entirety of last season on the bench, where junior Richie Springs has been for his two years in the program.
Isaiah Whaley and Tyrese Martin are gone, leaving a toughness void. While UConn hopes to stretch teams with its perimeter and open-court play, there will come times when they’ll have to focus on scoring and defending inside. The Huskies can’t get beat up. They also can’t have just one guy in the fight.
Sanogo, overall, was fantastic last season. I have largely avoided the foul trouble that limited him to 17 minutes a game as a freshman. He shot 50.4%, had nine double-doubles, scored 30 points against Auburn in November, 26 against St. John’s in January, 26 again in the regular season finale against DePaul March 5.
New York (Big East Tournament) and Buffalo (NCAA Tournament) were struggling, though. Sanogo went 2-for-11 from the field in a conference quarterfinal victory over Seton Hall, clearly fatigued despite managing to grab 24 rebounds in UConn’s two games at Madison Square Garden.
Hurley was asked about Sanogo having trouble finishing after the loss to Villanova.
“I don’t want to micromanage a guy that was [one of] the top five centers in the country, first-team all-conference,” he said. “This guy has carried us. In large part, we would be nowhere where we are without Adama Sanogo coming into our program. Since he’s been here, the whole program has changed. And he’s still a young player. This guy’s a sophomore. And he is a special player. He’s just got to put this behind him and get ready for the NCAA Tournament. But this guy’s carried us the whole year and had incredible accolades.”
mike.anthony@hearstmediact.com; @ManthonyHearst
