STORRS – Dan Hurley didn’t have much confidence in Alex Karaban when he enrolled early and moved into his dorm at UConn in the middle of the 2021-22 season.
A four-star prospect from Southborough, Mass. ranked outside of the top 100 nationally, he was ineligible to play that spring semester after accelerating his graduation from IMG Academy. Scrawny, clean-faced and a bit socially awkward, there were immediate concerns about whether he could eventually hold up mentally and perform under the pressure of the bright lights.
“We were scared to death of Alex,” Hurley said Saturday night, after that same Alex Karaban became UConn’s all-time winningest player in a 79-75 win over Georgetown, the 116th victory of his playing career.
“Not the game, not the mind, not the skills, not the work ethic and not the commitment, the team-first mentality. He was just scary introverted. I thought he was going to (bleep) his pants when he got on the court,” Hurley said. “I mean, he just was so awkward socially. His growth in college and his growth on this campus just as a man, as a confident, manly, good person that’s all about team. It’s his alter ego. It’s like his happy place is on the court. I misread the whole situation. It’s like he’s at his happiest and most confident in front of 20,000 people playing basketball. Other times when he first got here, he was weird.”
After redshirting his freshman year, UConn’s Alex Karaban is looking forward to having an impact on the team next season. (Courtesy of Team Expressions Elite)
Karaban benefitted greatly from having that extra semester to acclimate to his new environment. He was able to see how tough practices were and sit on the bench during games, to be along for the ride that ended with a crushing loss to New Mexico State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
“He’s right about the awkwardness, he’s right about everything. I was super shy coming in, no beard,” Karaban said.
The first game he watched from the bench was at Seton Hall on Jan. 8, 2022. UConn fell in overtime, its first of four-straight losses at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J. – a streak that finally ended this season – and Karaban could hardly handle it.
“I wasn’t even playing, I wasn’t eligible to play, I told (Hurley) I was going to throw up. I was, like, so nervous,” he said.
As far as he’s gone, UConn star Alex Karaban has taken his central Mass. community with him
Karaban was a far cry from the version of himself that – leading by three with 15 seconds left on Saturday night – threw the ball away on a broken inbounds play and kept his head in the game to make two clutch, game-sealing free throws in the final seconds.
“I needed to make both. After the turnover I had, I needed to make both,” he told The Courant. “I’ve been prepared, I’ve been in a way worse situation at the line. So honestly, all the nerves and experience and everything that I’ve been through, I’m more than comfortable now with those situations.”
He scored 13 of his 18 points in the second half, hitting timely shots to stymie Georgetown’s comeback surge as he’s done on countless occasions during his historic career. No player in the history of the program has started more games than Karaban, who was in the lineup for the 136th time on Saturday night and passed the previous mark set by Jake Voskhul.
He was hardened by competing against Samson Johnson – the previous record-holder for wins – at the power forward spot leading up to his redshirt freshman campaign in 2022-23. Karaban was far enough along in his development to position himself as the opening night starter, but he sprained an ankle a week or two before the season and missed a close-door scrimmage against Harvard, so Johnson got the nod.
But Johnson suffered a stress fracture in his foot during that game against Stonehill and didn’t return until late January.
Karaban replaced him in the starting lineup and the rest was history.
He has started in every game he’s played since, serving a critical role for the dominant back-to-back national championship teams as a freshman and a sophomore. He returned to go for a three-peat last season and when that didn’t work out, decided to come back and finish out his career contending for a third title in four years as the grizzled vet and team captain.
Karaban is 12th on the program’s all-time scoring list with 1,701 points for his career. He is one 3-pointer shy of tying Christian Vital for the second-most in program history and 12 away from Rashad Anderson’s record 276.
The pale, scrawny kid who showed up in Storrs back in 2022 never imagined he’d have such an impact in reviving the program’s blue blood status.
“When I first came to UConn, I was worried about playing. Like just getting out there and just making an impact,” he said. “And to now be the all-time winningest player at a program like UConn, it’s a special program, it’s a historic program, it’s had so many legends, so many great winners. To have my name at the top of that list is special. I’ll forever be blessed for all of the teammates I’ve had, I’ll forever be blessed to play for the best coaching staff that’s made it easier to get those wins, too.”