Ware, Clingan Offer Fascinating Matchup of Potential First-Round Centers

UConn’s Donovan Clingan and Indiana’s Kel’el Ware are considered two of the top NBA prospects among collegiate centers. They face each other Sunday in the Empire Classic at Madison Square Garden.

College production doesn’t always correlate with NBA success, and that’s especially true for centers.

The last two National Player of the Year winners, Kentucky’s Oscar Tshiebwe and Purdue’s Zach Edey, are prime examples. Both returned to college after winning the award, perhaps because of NIL money and wanting to avenge early NCAA Tournament exits – and a guaranteed NBA contract was no sure thing as neither fit the mold of a modern NBA center.

While they haven’t played thousands of minutes in college and don’t have the individual accolades of Tshiebwe and Edey, two projected first-round pick centers – Donovan Clingan and Kel’el Ware – have skill sets desired by NBA teams.

Ware and Clingan will go head to head when the defending national champion UConn Huskies play Indiana at 1 p.m. ET Sunday at Madison Square Garden in New York in the Empire Classic. It’s not the only matchup that will determine the game’s outcome, but pro scouts will surely be watching the two starting centers. NBA teams draft largely on potential, size and versatility, and those two boast plenty of that.

Indiana's Kel'el Ware and UConn's Donovan Clingan are considered two of the top NBA prospects among collegiate centers. They face each other Sunday in the Empire Classic at Madison Square Garden / Trevor Ruszkowski-USA TODAY Sports, Stephen R. Sylvanie-USA TODAY Sports

Ware transferred to Indiana after a year at Oregon filled scrutiny, both internally and externally. He was a top-10 recruit and McDonald’s All-American in the class of 2022, seen as a surefire one-and-done prospect. But his playing time fell off a cliff in the second half of the season.

Because of his versatility at 7-foot, Ware probably would have been drafted in 2023 on potential alone, despite averaging just 6.6 points as a freshman. But he recognized he had room to grow, and he saw much more playing time available at Indiana, where coach Mike Woodson helped Trayce Jackson-Davis develop into an All-American and earn a guaranteed contract with the Golden State Warriors.

Woodson has pushed Ware in practice, and he’s responded. Ware was listed at 210 pounds on Oregon’s roster last year, but Indiana lists him at 242. He said he feels his game evolving, and it should only improve as he continues to round into shape.

So far, Ware has arguably been Indiana’s best player through three games. Playing over 30 minutes in each game, he’s averaging 18.3 points, 10.0 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 2.0 blocks on 74.1% shooting. He’s logged two double-doubles already and is 18-for-22 from the field in his last two games.

And he’s not just doing it on uncontested dunks. Ware made a three in the season opener. He has knocked down a few mid-range jumpers, and Woodson has even run the offense through Ware as a high-post distributor.

“I'm more in a groove now,” Ware said after Thursday’s 89-80 win over Wright State. “With Coach Woodson giving me that role where he trusts me enough to just go make the play and attack the basket, score, even throw it out to my teammates and just play smart on the court. As long as I'm playing hard and just giving them that, then we should be good.”

“He's doing everything we've asked him to do since he's been here,” Woodson said. “He's rebounded the ball, he's blocked shots, he's made shots on the perimeter, he's made shots down low. I just want to keep him in that space.”

Kel’el Ware last night in Indiana’s win over Army 👀

▫️20 PTS (career-high)
▫️6 REB
▫️9-11 FG
▫️31 Min

- @KelelWare has been playing with so much more confidence for #iumbb
- Hitting tough shots out of his face-up game, staying composed on offense
- Fighting for position… pic.twitter.com/BoxJV4oriB

— Paige (@paigeotto_) November 13, 2023

Ware played against UConn last year in the fifth college basketball game of his career, and it turned out to be his most productive game. He scored a season-high 18 points and nine rebounds on 6-for-8 shooting, including a pair of 3-pointers. Ware's on a new team now, and UConn has made plenty of roster changes, but he's excited for the matchup.

"I'm looking forward to playing their team," Ware said Thursday. "They're a tough team, and we're just going to have to go and compete. The past is the past. I'm with a new team now, they have a new team, so we just have to compete."

Ware’s competition level takes a massive step up on Sunday against Clingan, who’ll be the most physically imposing force he’s faced so far this year. Clingan, a 7-foot-2 sophomore, spent his freshman season as the backup to Adama Sanogo, the 2023 Final Four Most Outstanding Player and current member of the Chicago Bulls’ G-League team.

Though Clingan played just 13.1 minutes per game last year, he made the most of his time on the court. His 6.9 points and 5.6 rebounds per game translates to 21.1 points, 17.1 rebounds and 5.5 blocks per 40 minutes. Heading into his sophomore year, he was tabbed a preseason third-team All-American by CBS Sports.

Coach Dan Hurley has kept Clingan’s minutes to 18 per game this year, perhaps due to Clingan recovering from an offseason foot injury or the blowout nature of UConn’s three straight wins to start the season. But he’s still averaging 15 points, 6.7 rebounds and 2.7 blocks on 61.3% shooting.

Clingan’s attraction to NBA teams stems from his immense potential as a rim protector and lob threat, thanks to his 7-foot-7 wingspan and fluid movement. He’s attempted just three 3-point shots in his college career and is a 48.6% free throw shooter, so teams will want to see his offensive game develop with more opportunities as a sophomore.

“The evolution for him is to demand the ball and demand that his teammates play up to a certain level,” Hurley said in the preseason. “Sometimes you have to be the bad guy, too. You just can’t be kind of the jolly giant, sometimes you’ve got to be the angry giant.”

Like Ware, Clingan will have his toughest matchup of the season so far by a wide margin. And unlike last year, he’ll have to carry the load inside for UConn, not just provide spot minutes when Sanogo needed a rest.

A recent 2024 NBA mock draft by The Sporting News has Clingan going ninth overall and Ware 17th. Under the bright lights of “the mecca of basketball,” Sunday’s game represents a chance for both to further boost their NBA stock.

Related stories on Indiana basketball

• EMPIRE CLASSIC PREVIEW: The 2023 Empire Classic takes place at Madison Square Garden on Sunday and Monday and features UConn, Indiana, Texas and Louisville. Here's the full event schedule, plus a breakdown and analysis of each team. CLICK HERE
• GAME STORY: Indiana’s starting frontcourt of Malik Reneau and Kel’el Ware led the Hoosiers to an 89-80 win over Wright State, which came with promising improvements from the offense but familiar concerns about defense. CLICK HERE
• WHAT WARE, RENEAU SAID: Indiana secured an 89-80 win over Wright State on Thursday, thanks to strong performances from Kel'el Ware and Malik Reneau. Here's everything Ware and Reneau said after the game. CLICK HERE
• WHAT WOODSON SAID: Here's everything coach Mike Woodson said after the Hoosiers' 89-80 win over Wright State. CLICK HERE