Big East Roundup: UConn Reloads With No. 11 Freshman Class

This is one in a series of stories covering roster changes around the Big East heading into the 2025-26 college basketball season.

After cutting down the nets in each of the previous two seasons, UConn Men’s Basketball suffered a tough draw in the second round of the NCAA Tournament last March, losing to Florida, the eventual national champions, in a razor-thin 77-75 decision.

While this Huskies team lost key contributors like one-and-done freshman Liam McNeeley and two-time champions Hassan Diarra and Samson Johnson, they also return three of their top five players in terms of minutes played and points scored: redshirt senior forward Alex Karaban (No. 1/No. 3), who decided to forego the NBA for one last season in Storrs, junior guard Solo Ball (No. 3/No. 2) and 6-foot-10 senior Tarris Reed Jr. (No. 5/No. 4), who also led the team in blocks and served as the top center despite coming in off the bench.

Junior forwards Jaylin Stewart and Jayden Ross round out the returning cast, appearing for 17.8 and 11.4 minutes per game last season, respectively. 

The Huskies lost eight players to graduation, the NBA or the transfer portal and, as they only rostered 13 last season, needed to bring in five freshmen and five transfers in order to round out their roster. Their recruiting class ranks No. 11 in the nation according to 247Sports, with one five-star, shooting guard Braylon Mullins, and four-stars like 7-foot-1 center Eric Reibe and 6-foot-6 forward Jacob Furphy, who joins the Huskies from Tasmania.

6-foot-5 forward Jacob Ross, the younger brother of Jayden Ross, and 7-foot-1 Turkish center Rrezon Elezaj round out the class.

Turning to the Transfer Portal

The Huskies brought in four transfers, including four-star guards Silas Demary Jr., a 6-foot-5 junior from Georgia, and redshirt senior Malachi Smith, formerly of Dayton. An excellent all-around athlete, Demary put up 13.5 points, 3.9 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 1.7 steals per game last season, while Smith, who will turn 26 in December, averaged 10.4 points and 5.3 assists per game.

6-foot-8 forward Dwayne Koroma joins UConn from the Le Moyne Dolphins (NEC) where he put up 11.5 points and 7.2 rebounds per game, while graduate guard Alec Millender spent last season at IU Indianapolis (Horizon League) where he averaged 8.2 points and 3.7 assists, making 43.5 percent of his three-point shots. 

Guard Uroš Paunovic enrolled at UConn as a junior after playing two seasons in the pros in Serbia, notching 8.8 points, 2.9 rebounds and 2.2 assists over 21.7 minutes per night in the starting lineup.

The Huskies also added longtime Villanova assistant coach Mike Nardi, who coached the Wildcats in the College Basketball Crown last season following Kyle Neptune’s firing.

Their freshman recruiting class might need some time to acclimate, but UConn did a good job of retaining talent and bringing in new pieces, both supplemental and starting material. As such, they should compete for the Big East throne once again under head coach Dan Hurley.