When last seen, the Fighting Illini of the University of Illinois were sitting forlornly by the side of the road on I-90, by the Ted Williams Tunnel, asking passersby if they had caught the license number of the truck that ran them over earlier this evening. One helpfully offered that it was a UConn vanity plate, License Number 32-Clingan.
There is a story, perhaps apocryphal, that Bill Russell captured an uncomfortable aspect of the rich sports history of Beantown thusly: “I won 11 championships and they named the _______’in Tunnel after Ted Williams.” Bill Russell would have enjoyed watching Donovan Clingan tonight. In the first half, Illinois shot 4-24 when Clingan was in the game. And that was before the last 25 points of the staggering 30-0 run the Huskies put on Illinois that began with the score tied at 23 and 1:51 left in the first half and ended 9:12 minutes later with 12:39 left in the game and UConn ahead 53-23. Clingan totally dominated the game, with 22 points, 10 rebounds, 5 blocks and three steals. He dominated in the way that Bill Russell dominated on the epic Celtic teams, the way Bill Walton dominated on the classic UCLA teams, in the flow with a team that flows, that attacks and does not care who scores, that plays intense team defense on every possession.
It is different players on different nights. Time will tell whether Clingan just had an even bigger night than usual, or whether he is moving to another level, the way Zach Edey did a couple of years ago. Tonight, Tristen Newton, usually a force, was 0-6 from the field, although he did pitch in five of UConn’s 21 assists (Illinois had 7.) Loyola Maryland/Rutgers transfer Cam Spencer and two bench players, Hassan Diarra, from Queens, and Samson Johnson, from Lome Golfe, Togo, were the most notable support players.
As so often is the case, the rabid U-C-O-N-N UCONN! UCONN! UCONN!!! crowd did not hurt. Hearing that chant, as I have heard it so many times in the Garden, in Hartford and in Storrs, made me proud all over again of the many Pitt Panthers teams of the Golden Era that stood in that atmosphere, held their poise and battled other great UConn teams toe-to-toe, and won their share. Those Pitt-UConn games, win or lose, were the most meaningful basketball games I have watched in my life.
There were people who thought that tall and athletic Illinois had the right stuff to give UConn a game. I was one of them. The Illini had won the Big Ten Tournament and cruised through the first three rounds of the NCAAs. Terrence Shannon, Jr., averaging over 27 points in those three games, looked like an unstoppable force. After Illinois survived a rocky start and settled in, it looked like the game would go that way. Shannon was in check, but the Illini’s other All Big Ten player, Southern Illinois transfer Marcus Domask, had singlehandedly kept Illinois in the game, scoring 15 points as Illinois forged a 23-23 tied late in the first half.
And then Illinois got hit by a Mack truck, License Number 32-Clingan.
In the second game, neither Clemson nor Alabama could establish the line of scrimmage until the middle of the second half, perhaps because the referees called only a handful or two of the several hundred fouls committed by both teams. Whether or not it was fitting that this game was played and refereed like a football game, it also was a game where the better team eventually established itself. Mark Sears struggled early but the Tide hung in with their overall athleticism, manifested by 16 offensive rebounds, and some exceptional performances from 6-10 senior Nick Pringle, inserted as a result of a head injury to Latrell Wrightsell, Jr. and battling his own heel injury, who answered the call with 16 points and 11 rebounds, and 6-10 freshman Jarin Stevenson, from Chapel Hill and the son of a former UNC women’s basketball star, a 29% three point shooter who went 5-8 from three on the way to 19 critical points. Rylan Griffin and Aaron Estrada were solid again win 13 and 10. Eventually Sears went off, too, finishing with 23. Once that happened, and even as the game remained close, it never felt like Clemson could win. Clemson led by 13 early and battled all night, especially the Baby Elephants, Ian Schieffelin and P.J. Hall, along with Chase Hunter and R.J. Godfrey, but they picked a bad night to shoot 8-16 from the foul line, with Schieffelin struggling the most, and to miss 14 of their first 16 three pointers. Joseph Girard III finally got going from three at the end, hitting five of them, but it was too little, too late.
Half the Final Four is set. Two more games tomorrow. Enjoy!
17-15
There is a story, perhaps apocryphal, that Bill Russell captured an uncomfortable aspect of the rich sports history of Beantown thusly: “I won 11 championships and they named the _______’in Tunnel after Ted Williams.” Bill Russell would have enjoyed watching Donovan Clingan tonight. In the first half, Illinois shot 4-24 when Clingan was in the game. And that was before the last 25 points of the staggering 30-0 run the Huskies put on Illinois that began with the score tied at 23 and 1:51 left in the first half and ended 9:12 minutes later with 12:39 left in the game and UConn ahead 53-23. Clingan totally dominated the game, with 22 points, 10 rebounds, 5 blocks and three steals. He dominated in the way that Bill Russell dominated on the epic Celtic teams, the way Bill Walton dominated on the classic UCLA teams, in the flow with a team that flows, that attacks and does not care who scores, that plays intense team defense on every possession.
It is different players on different nights. Time will tell whether Clingan just had an even bigger night than usual, or whether he is moving to another level, the way Zach Edey did a couple of years ago. Tonight, Tristen Newton, usually a force, was 0-6 from the field, although he did pitch in five of UConn’s 21 assists (Illinois had 7.) Loyola Maryland/Rutgers transfer Cam Spencer and two bench players, Hassan Diarra, from Queens, and Samson Johnson, from Lome Golfe, Togo, were the most notable support players.
As so often is the case, the rabid U-C-O-N-N UCONN! UCONN! UCONN!!! crowd did not hurt. Hearing that chant, as I have heard it so many times in the Garden, in Hartford and in Storrs, made me proud all over again of the many Pitt Panthers teams of the Golden Era that stood in that atmosphere, held their poise and battled other great UConn teams toe-to-toe, and won their share. Those Pitt-UConn games, win or lose, were the most meaningful basketball games I have watched in my life.
There were people who thought that tall and athletic Illinois had the right stuff to give UConn a game. I was one of them. The Illini had won the Big Ten Tournament and cruised through the first three rounds of the NCAAs. Terrence Shannon, Jr., averaging over 27 points in those three games, looked like an unstoppable force. After Illinois survived a rocky start and settled in, it looked like the game would go that way. Shannon was in check, but the Illini’s other All Big Ten player, Southern Illinois transfer Marcus Domask, had singlehandedly kept Illinois in the game, scoring 15 points as Illinois forged a 23-23 tied late in the first half.
And then Illinois got hit by a Mack truck, License Number 32-Clingan.
In the second game, neither Clemson nor Alabama could establish the line of scrimmage until the middle of the second half, perhaps because the referees called only a handful or two of the several hundred fouls committed by both teams. Whether or not it was fitting that this game was played and refereed like a football game, it also was a game where the better team eventually established itself. Mark Sears struggled early but the Tide hung in with their overall athleticism, manifested by 16 offensive rebounds, and some exceptional performances from 6-10 senior Nick Pringle, inserted as a result of a head injury to Latrell Wrightsell, Jr. and battling his own heel injury, who answered the call with 16 points and 11 rebounds, and 6-10 freshman Jarin Stevenson, from Chapel Hill and the son of a former UNC women’s basketball star, a 29% three point shooter who went 5-8 from three on the way to 19 critical points. Rylan Griffin and Aaron Estrada were solid again win 13 and 10. Eventually Sears went off, too, finishing with 23. Once that happened, and even as the game remained close, it never felt like Clemson could win. Clemson led by 13 early and battled all night, especially the Baby Elephants, Ian Schieffelin and P.J. Hall, along with Chase Hunter and R.J. Godfrey, but they picked a bad night to shoot 8-16 from the foul line, with Schieffelin struggling the most, and to miss 14 of their first 16 three pointers. Joseph Girard III finally got going from three at the end, hitting five of them, but it was too little, too late.
Half the Final Four is set. Two more games tomorrow. Enjoy!
17-15
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