On Wednesday, UConn got its first commitment from the transfer portal: Najai Hines, a center who played his freshman season at Seton Hall.
With Tarris Reed Jr. graduating and Eric Reibe hitting the transfer portal, the center position was in dire need for the Huskies. Even Rrezon Elezaj, a freshman center who did not get much playing time, entered the transfer portal. Overall, Connecticut had zero centers on the 2026-27 roster before Hines committed to the program.
Hines visited Tuesday and was scheduled to visit St. John’s next, but his positive UConn visit led to a quick commitment as one of two centers the Huskies seek from the portal.
The Plainfield, N.J. native, nicknamed “Baby Shaq” at Seton Hall, stands at 6’10”, 265 pounds. He told NJ.com’s Adam Zagoria that he models his game after Shaquille O’Neal and Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Even though Reed was one of college basketball’s premier centers, Hines held his own while coming off the bench. He averaged 10.5 points, 9 rebounds and 3 blocks over the two games against UConn. He put up a fight against St. John’s, led by Zuby Ejiofor, the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award winner, by reaching double figures with five rebounds twice this past season.
It did not take too long for Hines to introduce himself to the college basketball world. In the season-opening win against Saint Peter’s, he had 12 points, nine9 rebounds and a whopping six blocks on 4-of-5 shooting in 21 minutes. He scored 10 points or more in 11 games this season, with four double-doubles.
Overall, he averaged 6.5 points, 5.5 rebounds and 2.2 blocks per game on 60.2% shooting. His blocks per game topped the Big East and tied for 15th in the country. He finished the season with a block percentage of 16%, fourth-best in the country behind Davidson’s Sean Logan (18.6%), Virginia’s Ugonna Onyeso (17.4%) and St. Bonaventure’s Andrew Osasuyi (16.3%). According to CBB Analytics, opponents shot just 55% at the rim when he was on the court. Opponents shot 61% at the rim when he was not on the floor for Seton Hall.
Hines never started a game and only averaged 18 minutes per contest, but the potential for him to be a strong successor to Reed at the starting center position is present. He averaged 14.3 points, 12.2 rebounds and 4.9 blocks per 40 minutes.
Coming out of high school, Hines was highly sought after as a top-75 recruit. He had offers from Kansas, Indiana, N.C. State and Rutgers before picking Shaheen Holloway’s Pirates as the No. 1 player in his class in New Jersey. That recruiting stock rose when he averaged 13.1 points, 9.8 rebounds and 2.8 blocks across eight games at the Peach Jam last summer, helping lead the NY Rens to the finals in the tournament.
According to KenPom, UConn has ranked in the top-30 nationally in offensive rebounding percentage in each of the last seven seasons. However, the back-to-back national championship teams were in the top-12 in that category, and the Huskies ranked 30th last season in offensive rebounding percentage. Hines should certainly help there, as he ranked 11th among major conference players (ACC, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, SEC) in offensive rebounding percentage (15.4%).
247Sports’ Adam Finklestein said that Hines “has a chance to develop into one of the more impactful interior bigs in the country.”
Storrs Central contributor Brian Kervick said that Hines’ “combination of rim protection, rebounding and physical post play would be a natural fit for next year’s UConn roster.”
UConn could very well get at least another commit this week as Duke’s Nikolas Khamenia visited campus on Wednesday, and Syracuse’s Donnie Freeman is set to visit Storrs on Friday should he not commit to Kentucky. Expect not only another center, but possibly more forwards and a backup point guard. UConn has six scholarships left, with decisions from Solo Ball, Jaylin Stewart, Braylon Mullins and Jacob Ross still to be determined. The transfer portal closes on April 21.