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Alex Karaban’s first two college seasons couldn’t have been scripted much better. The 6-foot-8 forward started all but one game as a freshman and sophomore and helped the University of Connecticut win back-to-back NCAA men’s basketball tournament championships in 2023 and 2024. Still, Karaban didn’t have the same success last season, as the Huskies finished third in the Big East Conference’s regular season and lost in the second round of the NCAA tournament to eventual national champion Florida.
Karaban will now have an opportunity to close out his college career on a happier note. On Tuesday, he pulled out of the NBA draft and announced he would return to UConn for his senior season.
“I pride myself on accepting challenges and holding myself to the highest standard,” Karaban wrote on X. “Last year, we didn’t achieve what we set out to, and I am not running from a chance to make that right!”
Karaban’s return will make UConn among the favorites to win the national title and solidify his place among the program’s all-time greats. If he can replicate what he’s done the past three seasons, Karaban should become UConn’s all-time leader in games played (he needs to appear in 33 games to surpass Shabazz Napier) and 3-pointers made (he needs 62 to surpass Rashad Anderson) and in the top 10 in career points. He is currently second all-time among UConn players with a 57.4% effective field goal percentage, only trailing Emeka Okafor (59.0%).
Karaban averaged 14.3 points and 5.3 rebounds per game last season, both career-highs and third on the team, but he shot a career-low 43.8% from the field and 34.7% on 3-pointers. After playing the previous year with future NBA draft selections Donovan Clingan, Stephon Castle, Tristen Newton and Cam Spencer, averaging 13.3 points and shooting 49.5% from the field, Karaban struggled at times last season with a bigger role and with defenses aimed at stopping him.
UConn was also inconsistent. The Huskies were No. 3 in the preseason Associated Press poll, but they lost three games in three days in November at the Maui Invitational in Hawaii to fall to No. 25. UConn then won eight consecutive games and rose to No. 9 in the poll, but the Huskies were unranked for the season’s final month even though they finished 14-6 in the Big East. They lost in the semifinals of the Big East tournament. And in the NCAA tournament, they led Florida by six points midway through the second half and tied it with less than two minutes remaining before the Gators pulled off the 77-75 victory.
Besides Karaban, the Huskies will also have back guard Solo Ball, who was second on the team in scoring (14.4 points per game) and shot 41.4% on 6.8 3-point attempts per game. Tarris Reed Jr., a 6-foot-10 center, is also returning. He led the team with 7.3 rebounds and 1.6 blocks per game and averaged 9.6 points in just 19.9 minutes per game while shooting 67% from the field. Forwards Jaylin Stewart and Jayden Ross will be back for their junior seasons, too.
UConn has added two transfers who should make immediate impacts, too, in Silas Demary Jr. (Georgia) and Malachi Smith (Dayton). Demary, a 6-foot-5 point guard, averaged 13.5 points as a sophomore last season. He is a big guard and two-way player in the mold of Newton, who was a first team All-American in 2024. Smith, a 6-foot guard, is much shorter than Demary, but he can also play point guard. He is coming off of a productive season (10.4 points and 5.3 assists per game) after only playing one game in 2023-24 due to a knee injury.
UConn will also have two talented freshmen in 6-foot-5 guard Braylon Mullins and 7-foot center Eric Reibe, who are No. 15 and No. 28, respectively, in the high school class of 2025, per the 247Sports Composite. Mullins was the top player in Indiana this past season, averaging 32.9 points, 7.2 rebounds, 4.2 assists and 3.7 steals per game while shooting 47.6% on 3-pointers. Mullins is the second UConn recruit in as many seasons to be named a McDonald’s high school All-American, joining Liam McNeeley, a 6-foot-7 wing who averaged a team-high 14.5 points last season and recently declared for the NBA draft. McNeeley is ranked 15th in ESPN’s list of top draft prospects.
Reibe, meanwhile, grew up in Germany and Switzerland and played the past two years at the Bullis School in Maryland. UConn coach Dan Hurley told Forbes contributor Adam Zagoria in December that Reibe is “gonna have a huge impact on us” and praised his offensive game as a scorer and passer.
With the players returning and new additions, UConn could be the preseason favorite to win the Big East, although reigning regular season and tournament champion St. John’s has reloaded, too. The Red Storm return 6-foot-9 forward Zuby Ejiofor and have several talented transfers such as guards Ian Jackson (North Carolina), Dylan Darling (Idaho State), Joson Sanon (Arizona State), Oziyah Sellers (Arizona State), forwards Bryce Hopkins (Providence) and Dillon Mitchell (Cincinnati) and center Handje Tamba (Tennessee).
For Karaban and the rest of the Huskies, this past season was much different and frustrating than the previous two when UConn dominated in the NCAA tournament, winning each of its games by at least 10 points. It will be nearly impossible to replicate that dominance next season, but the Huskies on paper have a roster that should fit better together than last season and a coaching staff that is looking to get back to its winning ways in March.
