St. John's Basketball: 3 keys for Red Storm to upset No. 1 UConn at MSG

3. Shut down Donovan Clingan and contend in the rebound battle

This is a lot easier said than done, but the Red Storm have a great chance out of a lot of teams to at least slow down Donovan Clingan offensively. they have the benefit of a quality big man in Joel Soriano, and while he does not have the height of Clingan, he has still had one of the better seasons out of anybody in the Big East Conference.

In the last game against UConn, Clingan was not active, but the Red Storm were still unable to win the rebound battle in that matchup. This will be the big point of attack for the Huskies, they have a clear advantage when it comes to dominating the glass, and especially with a seven-footer back that will be huge for them. This Red Storm team needs their wings and taller guards to step up and get active in the rebounding battle, but that is something they have struggled with all season.

This all starts with Soriano contending in the Clingan battle, the UConn big man has already impressed against some of the best bigs in the country, but this is where Soriano can have an iconic performance. Pitino needs to make sure these guys are focused on crashing the glass because they have just not had that success in this area. They lost in this category to Xavier 44-34, and without a stronger effort, UConn will do the same thing to them on Saturday.