UConn Basketball: 3 keys for National Championship matchup against Purdue

3. Donovan Clingan's matchup against Zach Edey

This is the big ticket matchup that we are all going to have our eyes glued to right from the opening tip. 7'2 Donovan Clingan and 7'4 Zach Edey have put the nation on notice and raised their draft stock with each performance. Clingan appears to be the better NBA prospect due to his athleticism, but Edey has been about as dominant of a college center as we have seen in some time.

But for this game, only Clingan can take down Edey due to size, and the issue is that Clingan will need to be on the floor as much as possible. NC State did a great job guarding Edey at times though with the much smaller DJ Burns, so they will need to check the film of how they got that done.

Edey is prone to turnovers at times when wings come down and create steals while he is trying to get to his post hook, so Clingan will need to do the bulk of the defense while players like Stephon Castle will need to come from behind and create steals. Guarding a center like him is a team effort, so yes, the matchup matters a ton and he has to win it, but team defense is what will matter.

As much as Clingan is going to do in an attempt to slow down Edey, both will still put up some great performances. But for Clingan, he just has to put up a better one, and the Huskies will be just fine.