"They can play without him": Doug Gottlieb makes startling Donovan Clingan admission after $112,000 NIL-valued UConn center’s return

Donovan Clingan returned to the UConn Huskies on Wednesday after missing nearly a month with an injury to a tendon in his right foot. The $112,000 NIL-valued center suffered the injury early in the second half of the Huskies' Big East opener against the Seton Hall Pirates.

Fox Sports Radio host Doug Gottlieb recently shared that his absence will help UConn in the long run. Speaking on The Field of 68: After Dark, the college basketball analyst stated:

"To have different ball screen coverages based upon your personnel is really advanced stuff. This is where losing Clingan for a short period of time helps you because there's going to be a time in the NCAA Tournament where he's going to have two or three fouls in the first half and you're going to have to play without him. They've shown they can play without him for games."

Gottlieb continued:

"They can change how they want to cover a ball screen. That takes really smart and connected players... They're operating with two different ball screen coverages based upon personnel. While that seems super easy to us to sit here and go, 'when you got Clingan in there, you're going to the drop, when you don't, you're going to a hard hedge', okay, but it all has to work together."

Check out Doug Gottlieb's comments on Donovan Clingan's absence below:

The Huskies were able to win all five of their games in Donovan Clingan's absence, rising from fifth to first in the AP Top 25 Poll.

He returned off the bench for Wednesday's 62-48 victory over the No. 18-ranked Creighton Bluejays. Cligan played 16 minutes, finishing with six points on 3-8 shooting from the field. He added five rebounds, two assists and two blocks.

How has Donovan Clingan performed in his college career?

Donovan Clingan joined the UConn Huskies as a four-star prospect in the 2022 recruiting class. As a true freshman, he averaged 6.9 points, 5.6 rebounds, 0.5 assists, 0.4 steals and 1.8 blocks in just 13.1 minutes per game while shooting 65.5% from the field.

Clingan was named to the Big East All-Freshman Team as the backup center for the Huskies' title-winning team.

Despite being projected to be a late-first or early-second-round pick in the 2023 NBA Draft, he decided to return to UConn for his sophomore season.

In just 20.3 mpg, Clingan has averaged 13.3 ppg, 6.2 rpg, 1.3 apg, 0.5 spg and 2.0 bpg while shooting 61.4% from the field. He is projected to be a potential lottery pick in the 2024 NBA Draft.