STORRS – The UConn men’s basketball program wouldn’t let Alex Karaban leave without his name on the wall.
There could only be one reason for the black curtain hanging at Gampel Pavilion ahead of Saturday’s Senior Day game against Seton Hall. Karaban, the program’s all-time leader in wins, would be the 25th men’s player inducted into the Huskies of Honor and the fourth to go in as an active player.
Karaban becomes the first active player to be honored in season. Tristen Newton, Kemba Walker and Shabazz Napier were also considered active players but were not inducted until returning from their respective national championship victories.
“Alex, there’s nothing you could say besides he’s one of the best players to ever wear the uniform,” coach Dan Hurley said Friday. “I’m not sure that anyone’s ever done more in the uniform than he’s done. There’s been players that have gone on post-wearing the uniform and done amazing things, but just in terms of somebody that while they had the uniform on, the amount of winning. I don’t know if anyone’s ever done it better. The whole program changed when he came in.”
A starter on both the 2023 and 2024 national championship teams, Karaban entered his final game in Connecticut at No. 11 on UConn’s all-time scoring list with 1,729 career points. He is one of three players in NCAA Division I history with career totals of at least 1,700 points, 700 rebounds, 250 assists, 250 made 3-pointers and 100 blocks.
“It’s rare you come across somebody that just wins,” Tarris Reed Jr. said of the Huskies’ captain. “The way he leads, the way he carries himself, his discipline, his motivation. Everything he did in the summer was the same when I first came here. First one in the gym, last one leaving the gym. He’s getting up shots before practice, rehab after practice, shots after rehab. He was on such a routine, a regiment, that I had to get there.”
Karaban could’ve left for the NBA Draft after collecting his second ring, but opted to return to captain the Huskies and chase a historic three-peat. When the season didn’t go as planned, he returned to go for three titles in four years. Now, leading the team in minutes played for the second year in a row, he has the Huskies in position to chase more March success.
Karaban is averaging 13.0 points, 5.3 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game this season on 47.9% shooting from the field, 39.5% from beyond the arc and 83.6% from the free throw line.
“It’s been an honor, it’s been a privilege and it’s been a dream,” he said. “I’ve been going through a dream for these last four years.”