The UConn Fast Break - 10/3/2023

Big wins for women's hockey. Senior Day for soccer. A troubling injury for men's basketball.

October 03, 2023

Welcome to this week’s Fast Break, and thank you for being a subscriber. To all fans of the hit coming-of-age movie Mean Girls, today’s October 3rd.

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Donovan Clingan suffers foot injury

UConn has announced that star center Donovan Clingan suffered a foot strain and will miss about a month.

The program expects him to be ready for the season opener on Nov. 6 against Northern Arizona but the potential lingering effects of such an injury remain a concern.

If the 7-foot-2 sophomore does miss game action, it leaves the Huskies thin in the post, with junior Samson Johnson and freshman Youssouf Singare as the remaining big men. Johnson was mostly a reserve in his freshman season, and a foot injury sidelined him until late January last season as a sophomore.

The Huskies’ core rotation last season, which was nine players deep, missed a combined nine games and none of them were absent in more than three. Five players — Nahiem Alleyne, Clingan, Alex Karaban, Tristen Newton, and Adama Sanogo — played in all 39 contests.

It’s less-than-ideal for Clingan and his large frame to have a foot injury, but with more than a month to go before the season starts and a trio of buy games before the year’s first big test against Indiana at MSG, the timing could be significantly worse, particularly if rehab progresses well and he doesn’t miss any games.

When Clingan does take the court, he’ll be doing so in a much different role than he had on last year’s championship team. More on that here:

Weekly Rewind

Men’s Basketball

Clingan injures foot - The big man went down in practice last week, but isn’t expected to miss any game action.

Gay, Martin sign new deals - Tyrese Martin caught on with Minnesota, while Rudy Gay is joining Golden State.

Women’s Basketball

Schedule release - The Huskies have their full marching orders as they try to get back to the Final Four.

Breanna Stweart named WNBA MVP - SHe’s the first former Huksy to win the award multiple times.

WBB Weekly - How tall is KK Arnold?

Football

Heartbreaking loss - The Huskies had a three-score lead and were an extra point away from forcing overtime, but a block stopped the comeback bid in its tracks. | Photos

Postgame spread - The offense showed signs of life!

Houston, Gilyard leave team - There have been some midseason defections from the Huskies.

Future opponents - The teams remaining on the slate are racking up the wins.

Remembering Pitt - The Huskies and Panthers will renew their rivalry in 2027 and 2028.

Men’s Hockey

Defensemen preview - This year’s blueliners are experienced.

Forward preview - Our look at the 2023-24 Huskies starts with the forwards.

Men’s Soccer

Photos - The Huskies took a 1-0 win over Villanova on Friday night.

Women’s Soccer

Photos - It was Senior Day on Sunday and the squad ran its unbeaten streak to five games.

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Highlights

You may want to keep tabs on UConn+ to watch In the Paint, a four-part, behind-the-scenes look at this year’s men’s basketball team as they look to defend their title.

The trailer just came out:

Also, the New York Liberty are heading to the WNBA Finals and league MVP Breanna Stewart is leading the way. One of the big moments in Game 2 of the semifinals was this block on Olivia Nelson-Ododa.

New York beat the CT Sun in the five-game series, losing only one game. Stewie and the Liberty will take on the Las Vegas Aces in Game 1 of the finals on Sunday, October 8th.

Memory Lane

As part of UConn football’s march to the Fiesta Bowl in the 2010 season, the Huskies hosted Vanderbilt and made mincemeat of the SEC’s Commodores 13 years ago, snagging a 40-21 win on Homecoming.

Jordan Todman was the story of the day, running 37 times for 190 yards and a pair of touchdowns. The future sixth-round NFL Draft pick had his number called on more than half of UConn’s offensive plays, as the Huskies ran 75 plays.

Courtesy of UConn Husky Games on YouTube, you can watch the full game below!

UConn, Great Pic

It was Senior Day for UConn women’s soccer on a beautiful Sunday afternoon in Storrs.

Also, the Jonathans might need a new bed…

(Via @JonathanHusky_ on Twitter)

Parting Thoughts

UConn women’s hockey started the season off with a bang, allowing one goal over two games to No. 11 Penn State, securing a win and a tie to vault into the USCHO Coaches’ Poll at No. 14.

There are just 44 Division I women’s ice hockey programs competing for a place in an 11-team tournament and 15 spots in the national rankings. The sport is one of the NCAA’s newest, beginning in 2001 when the first tournament was held. Only five schools have won the 22 tournaments, with Wisconsin and Minnesota combining to win more than half of them.

UConn started its program in time for the 2000-01 season and has had just two head coaches: current head man Chris MacKenzie, who followed Heather Linstad. MacKenzie took over in 2013-14 and has been on a roll in the past few years, with three Hockey East Tournament championship appearances since 2017-18. But it’s still looking to break through with some hardware or postseason glory.

Going undefeated at Penn State is a great result that certainly bodes well for this season’s future. The Huskies get a break this weekend, but open Hockey East play on Oct. 13 on the road against Boston College.

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