UConn men’s basketball fills out 2025-26 roster with two international commits

The UConn men’s basketball team has gone overseas to fill out its final two roster spots for the 2025-26 season.

The Huskies announced Monday that they has signed Uroš Paunović, a 22-year-old, 6-foot-3 guard from Serbia, and Rrezon Elezaj, an 18-year-old, 7-2 big man from Turkey. The pair brings UConn’s roster to 15, with 10 newcomers joining five returnees.

“With rosters expanding to 15 this year, we look at it as a great opportunity to further roster construction, focusing on growing our team’s depth and competitiveness,” coach Dan Hurley said in a release. “We feel like Rrezon and Uroš help us do that.”

Paunović comes to the Huskies after playing in Serbia’s top division (KLS) since the 2021-22 season. He spent the 2024-25 season with KK Zlatibor, playing in 11 games in the Adriatic League 2 before appearing as a regular starter in 30 contests in the top league, according to a UConn release. He averaged 8.8 points, 2.9 rebounds and 2.2 assists in 21.7 minutes per game while shooting 47.1% from the floor and 34.8% from 3-point range in KLS play.

He played with KK Dynamic in 2023-24 and averaged a career-high 11.7 points with 3.2 assists and 2.2 rebounds in 25.5 minutes, with a 2.0 assist/turnover ratio over 30 games.

”Uroš is a guy we liked on film. He’s got a ton of experience as a 22-year-old; he’s been a starter professionally in the top division in Serbia, a 6-3 guard who’s pretty good with the ball, can shoot and pass, and plays with real emotion on the floor. We’re looking forward to having him join the Huskies,” Hurley said.

Elezaj, more of a developmental piece, played at the FIBA U17 and U18 junior levels and spent this past season with the prestigious club Besiktas in Turkey’s U19 league. Born in Kosovo but a Turkish national, Elezaj averaged 6.1 points and 3.1 rebounds in the 2024 FIBA U17 World Cup. He also played in the FIBA U18 Eurobasket in 2024 (3.7 points, 1.7 rebounds per game) and in 2025 (5.4 points, 5.4 rebounds per game).

Elazaj averaged 7.6 points, 5.8 rebounds and 1.6 blocks in 20.2 minutes per game with Besiktas in 2024-25, shooting 60.7% from the field.

“Rrezon is an interesting prospect, a true 7-footer, who just turned 18. We’re looking forward to bringing him into our program and getting to work on his development,” Hurley said. “He has really solid instincts and timing as a shot-blocker and is a legitimate lob threat in the ball-screen game. Rrezon has experience coming through the ranks as a Turkish youth national team player, and we’re excited to add him to our group up front with Tarris (Reed), Eric (Reibe), and Dwayne (Koroma).”

UConn’s roster now has five international players, including Jacob Furphy from Australia and both Reibe and Koroma from Germany.

Hassan Diarra reportedly signs to play in Israel

Former UConn point guard Hassan Diarra, a member of both the 2023 and ’24 national championship teams after transferring in from Texas A&M, has reportedly signed with the Maccabi “Av-Gad” Ra’anana Basketball Club in Israel.

Diarra averaged 5.3 points, 3.3 assists and 2.7 rebounds over his 111 appearances with the Huskies. The Big East Sixth Man of the Year during the 2023-24 season, Diarra started 28 games and averaged 7.7 points, 5.7 assists and 3.7 rebounds per game last year.

Maccabi Ra’anana plays in the Israeli National League, which is the second-tier division league of Israel.

Originally Published: August 18, 2025 at 9:30 AM EDT