How UConn will look to fill out 2025-26 roster

The UConn men’s basketball program is happy with the 10 players it has in place for the 2025-26 season, but the Huskies are still looking to add more.

With roster limits likely increasing by two, from 13 to 15, if the landscape-changing House v. NCAA settlement is approved, UConn aims to fill out its roster with additional depth at just about every position. Currently, the Huskies have two players locked in for every spot on the floor as they return five players from last year’s roster and bring in five new ones – two from the transfer portal and three as incoming freshmen.

“We’re really trying to be strategic and creative with how we put together the rest of the roster,” said Tom Moore, who transitioned from assistant coach into his new full-time role as general manager this offseason. UConn hired former Villanova assistant Mike Nardi to fill the opening on its bench.

It has been a successful offseason thus far as the Huskies retained five key contributors despite Dan Hurley’s 60 Minutes warning that at least half of his roster had considered entering the transfer portal. Captain Alex Karaban headlines the returning group after he announced his withdrawal from the NBA Draft for the second year in a row. Solo Ball, one of the best shooters in the country last season, will hold down his spot as the two-guard and Tarris Reed Jr. returns at center with wings Jaylin Stewart and Jayden Ross also returning to take on larger roles.

“We’re overly happy with who came back,” Moore said. “I don’t think we could’ve scripted it any better in terms of the returning guys that we would’ve wanted back. … Not only are they terrific players, but they’re terrific kids and they’ve tasted winning. All but Tarris has a national championship here, so that culture stays tight and that winning attitude stays tight.”

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UConn went after and filled its most immediate position of need fairly early in the portal process, bringing in a pair of experienced point guards in Silas Demary Jr. and Malachi Smith. The Huskies will integrate their three incoming freshmen (wings Braylon Mullins and Jacob Furphy, and center Eric Reibe) to make up what will likely be their initial rotation.

As far as the remaining roster spots, an additional big man to backup Reed and Reibe seems to be the first priority.

“Obviously a third-string center is something we’ll be targeting,” Moore said. “We’ll be looking for another wing, another combo guard, possibly a combo forward. But we’re trying to be strategic in this new age of potential revenue sharing with finding people who are maybe overlooked in the high school ranks, foreign players, and then maybe under recruited transfers who are still in the portal.”

The next additions figure to add depth and serve as developmental pieces after UConn struggled with numbers past its top-nine at several points during the 2024-25 season, with various injuries leading to short-handed practices and heavy minutes for already high-usage players.

Moore said the next handful of recruits might have a profile that looks “drastically different than maybe any other recruits that have come through UConn in terms of who they’re being recruited by.” The Huskies aren’t planning to make any “huge splash” by adding players who may be going through the NBA Draft process or are demanding significant NIL compensation.

“We’re looking at these guys as potential people to help us initially in practice, to make sure we have a high-level practice on a day-in and day-out basis, but then also potentially helping us down the road as upside guys. As somebody who could maybe hit for us in year two or year three,” Moore said. “We’re hopeful that if we can get this thing to 14 or 15 with bringing some athleticism and some length and some energy into that, it could help alleviate some of the high-minute guys and eliminate some of the wear and tear that they accrue during the course of the season.”