{"id":96668,"date":"2025-07-27T12:15:10","date_gmt":"2025-07-27T12:15:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/96668\/"},"modified":"2025-07-27T12:15:10","modified_gmt":"2025-07-27T12:15:10","slug":"alex-karaban-is-all-business-for-2025-26-notes-from-uconns-open-summer-practice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/96668\/","title":{"rendered":"Alex Karaban is all-business for 2025-26; Notes from UConn’s open summer practice"},"content":{"rendered":"

STORRS \u2013 Last March, UConn men\u2019s basketball captain Alex Karaban<\/a> reflected on the previous summer, acknowledging that he didn\u2019t work enough on improving his offensive variety and his strength on defense. He started feeling the consequences.<\/p>\n

With just a glance at the 6-foot-8 forward during the 2025-26 team\u2019s<\/a> first open practice on Friday, it was clear he took that to heart.<\/p>\n

Karaban was visibly stronger, sturdier on the defensive end and rarely missed a shot. Unofficial scoring during the scrimmage portion of the event for local media and donors credited the senior captain with 26 points and six made 3-pointers.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis first two years in college \u2013 minus that January, none of us still know what happened in January \u201923, someone should study that month. \u2026 His first two years in college were a joy ride and then I think going through a season like last year where it wasn\u2019t a team that was functioning at the level of his first two years, I think it affected everyone\u2019s level of play,\u201d coach Dan Hurley<\/a> said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think guys that went in the portal will play better in their new places and I think the returning players that come back here will play better. It didn\u2019t work out, it didn\u2019t happen, it didn\u2019t come together the way we all planned.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

\u2018Refreshed\u2019 UConn men\u2019s basketball program offers first look at 2025-26 team in open practice<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Karaban dealt with a significant shooting slump for much of the Big East season and couldn\u2019t make up for the team\u2019s struggles across the board. He finished the year with career-low shooting splits at 43.8% from the field and 34.7% from beyond the arc, and felt the burden of captaining a unit that couldn\u2019t match up with the previous two national championship teams he was a part of.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat you learn from that, you get a lot tougher,\u201d Hurley said. \u201cYou get mentally tougher when you\u2019ve kind of got to drag yourself through a tough year in your life, dealing with adversity like that. I think it\u2019s made him mentally tougher, I think it identified areas where he\u2019s really got to work on his game and I think you saw how sharp his game looked today making hard shots, making contested 3s\u2026 I think he\u2019s really strong going into this year and confident.\u201d<\/p>\n

Braylon Mullins shows off full skillset<\/p>\n

In Hurley fashion, summer practices aren\u2019t supposed to be easy for freshmen.<\/p>\n

But the Huskies\u2019 head coach was already ready to project Braylon Mullins, his third five-star recruit in as many years, as one of the best shooters in college basketball for the 2025-26 season. More than his ability to hit shots from beyond the arc, the 6-foot-5 wing from Greenfield, Indiana, showed his full skillset on Friday as he made plays off the drive and dove for loose balls.<\/p>\n

\"UConnUConn’s Braylon Mullins puts up a shot during a workout at the most recent McDonald’s All-American Game. Huskies coach Dan Hurley says there is much more to Mullins’ game than just shooting. (Courtesy McDonald’s All-American Game)<\/p>\n

\u201cThe shooting is the first thing that stands out, as well as some shotmaking that doesn\u2019t involve just 3s, the fact he can make them off the dribble too and from deep. But I think there\u2019s some toughness there, I think that there\u2019s a seriousness, I think he\u2019s gonna be able to guard people. And I think he\u2019s gonna be able to finish at the rim because he\u2019s like really bouncy, sneaky bouncy,\u201d Hurley said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a serious guy and he\u2019s got the benefit of being out there with a fourth-year senior, Alex, a third-year Solo (Ball), a fourth-year Tarris (Reed Jr.), some veteran point guards that are experienced and have been successful. So he\u2019s gonna be surrounded by veterans, Jayden Ross, Jaylin Stewart, third-year juniors. A lot of veterans around him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Will he start?<\/p>\n

\u201cHe can definitely put himself in position to earn that,\u201d Hurley said. \u201cGuys have got to earn it, but he certainly can earn it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jaylin Stewart, Jayden Ross to be X-factors at wing<\/p>\n

UConn, again, is loaded with wings. And, now juniors, Jaylin Stewart and Jayden Ross are hoping to solidify their place in the rotation.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust getting them to be consistent and to play in a matter \u2013 you want to get them to a point where it\u2019s like they play well enough that you don\u2019t want to take them off the court\u2026 You\u2019ve got these guys that bring so much value where it\u2019s like \u2013 and there\u2019s competition with these guys on the wing for minutes,\u201d Hurley said. \u201cThose two-through-four spots, you\u2019ve got Solo, Braylon, Jayden Ross, Jaylin Stewart, Jacob Furphy, Karaban \u2013 you\u2019ve got six guys in kind of three spots for 120 minutes there.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"STORRS \u2013 Last March, UConn men\u2019s basketball captain Alex Karaban reflected on the previous summer, acknowledging that he…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":96669,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[63534,1339,30696,63535,17963,7000,30691,7001,63537,63536,728,1317,1337,1338,62,63538,23320,30690,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-96668","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-basketball","8":"tag-alex-karaban","9":"tag-basketball","10":"tag-big-east-mens-basketball","11":"tag-braylon-mullins","12":"tag-connecticut-news","13":"tag-ct-news","14":"tag-dan-hurley","15":"tag-hartford-courant","16":"tag-jayden-ross","17":"tag-jaylin-stewart","18":"tag-local-news","19":"tag-ncaa","20":"tag-ncaa-basketball","21":"tag-ncaabasketball","22":"tag-sports","23":"tag-storrs","24":"tag-uconn","25":"tag-uconn-mens-basketball","26":"tag-united-states","27":"tag-unitedstates","28":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114925150550631080","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96668","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=96668"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96668\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/96669"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96668"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96668"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96668"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}