The transfer portal gives and takes. That is the era that college basketball is in. That is why every team’s roster must decide whether to stay or go at the end of the season.
So, who is staying from the 2024-25 UConn men’s basketball team? Alex Karaban, Solo Ball, Tarris Reed Jr., Jaylin Stewart and Jayden Ross have all announced their return to Storrs, Conn. for the 2025-26 season.
Players coming into the Basketball Capital of the World include Georgia transfer Silas Demary Jr., Dayton transfer Malachi Smith and a freshman class of Braylon Mullins, Eric Reibe and Jacob Furphy. Highly-touted high school prospect Darius Adams originally planned to play for the Huskies but has since decommitted and will play for Maryland instead.
So, who will not be sporting the Connecticut threads next season?
The two obvious players are Hassan Diarra and Samson Johnson, who have run out of eligibility after a historic run with the Huskies.
Liam McNeeley will become the third one-and-done player in program history (Andre Drummond, Stephon Castle), as he is expected to be selected in the first round of the 2025 NBA Draft in June.
That leaves us with Aidan Mahaney, Ahmad Nowell, Isaiah Abraham and Youssouf Singare. All four players have decided to take their talents elsewhere.
Mahaney will head back to California after spending a season with the defending back-to-back national champions, transferring to UC Santa Barbara.
After being a two-time All-West Coast Conference guard at Saint Mary’s, Mahaney did not fit into the role that UConn head coach Dan Hurley and the Huskies had hoped for. After starting the first five games of the season, Mahaney came off the bench and averaged 10.9 minutes per game.
There were some highs during his time with the Huskies, including a season-high 15 points in an 87-84 win over Providence on Jan. 5. He averaged just 4.5 points and 1.3 assists per game while shooting 37.7% from the field in 34 appearances. That was a shocking regression considering he averaged nearly 14 points per game in his first two seasons at Saint Mary’s.
Nowell showed promise, as he came to Storrs with a reputation of being a sharpshooter with strong physical presence. However, the Philadelphia native could not stay on the floor, appearing in only 18 games and averaging 6.5 minutes per game. The 6-foot guard averaged 1.5 points per game and will now take his talents south to VCU.
Abraham joined Nowell in a loaded freshman class with high hopes. However, like Nowell, Abraham seemed to be a work in progress. With a front court loaded with talent and more experience, it was hard for him to see the floor. He only appeared in nine games for the Huskies, averaging 1.6 points and 3.7 minutes per game. The Gainesville, Va. native will move closer to home but will remain in the Big East, playing for Georgetown.
Singare needed a change of scenery to continue his playing career that is loaded with potential. However, he was continually overshadowed by the likes of Johnson, Reed and Donovan Clingan. In two seasons with the Huskies, the Bamako, Mali native appeared in 39 games and averaged 2.3 minutes per game for his career. This season could have been a turning point for the 6-foot 10-inch sophomore, with Reed and Johnson battling with foul trouble. Singare will look for a resurgence down south at High Point, where his role will expand tremendously. The experience of being part of a national championship roster will help him support the Panthers through the Big South.
Overall, the 2025-26 roster consists of Karaban, Reed, Smith, Ball, Demary, Ross, Stewart, Furphy, Mullins and Reibe. As it stands right now, there are high expectations for Connecticut. Bart Torvik’s early projections have UConn as the No. 9 team in the country. ESPN’s Joe Lunardi has the Huskies as a No. 2 seed in his latest bracketology. CBS Sports’ Gary Parrish ranked the squad as the No. 4 team in the country.
With the scholarship limit expanding from 13 to 15, Hurley and the Huskies have five scholarships to work with as we head into May.