STORRS – For Jayden Ross, returning to the UConn men’s basketball team was about completing the four-year journey he signed on for in June, 2022.
His decision, the first of many for the Huskies this offseason, came just two days after returning from the Final Four in Indianapolis. He blossomed in his sixth-man role over the last month of the season while teammates battled injuries, and played a significant role in sparking another long NCAA Tournament run with an infusion of defensive energy and versatility that the team needed.
“College basketball is a little different nowadays,” Ross said on Tuesday, sounding mature and confident as ever. “It’s hard to leave a place like this. I’ve been here three years now, you obviously want to finish it off strong. Had some great momentum toward the end of the season, so I had my meeting with Coach (Dan Hurley) and it didn’t really make too much sense to go a different route. It’s always hard to leave a program like this when you know your heart’s just here and you’re surrounded by great people.”
One of those people is his younger brother, Jacob, who signed with the Huskies last summer and decided to redshirt his freshman year in order to maintain his full eligibility. He also gave little thought to moving on, though he likely could’ve gone somewhere with more opportunity to play.
“It’s my brother’s senior year, so taking that into account, and also me coming off a redshirt year, having four years left of eligibility, being in a program like UConn I really just wanted to bet on myself and really try to grind out minutes this year and earn everything I get on the floor,” said Jacob, who originally signed with Minnesota as a three-star high school prospect last March before there was a coaching change and he joined the Huskies. “I want to grow my IQ, I want to be one of the best defenders on the team, I just want to do all the gritty stuff, the stuff that may not show up on the stat sheet. I just want to be a blue collar guy that really just gets everything out the mud, does whatever the team needs to do to win and just be an overall winning player.”
These brothers will become teammates for UConn men’s basketball next year
For almost a week, the Ross brothers were lone survivors.
The coaches had “somewhat of an idea” of how they were going to go about building the rest of the roster when Jayden made the decision to stay, but it still wasn’t clear what his roommate of three years, Jaylin Stewart, or star freshman Braylon Mullins, would do. Solo Ball, who played with the Ross brothers in high school and on the AAU circuit, was still figuring out how he would manage his wrist injury and Silas Demary Jr. hadn’t officially announced he would return.
It was clear that the Huskies would have to be active in the transfer portal, and Ross had a role to play on the recruiting front.
“As one of the first guys to announce that I was returning, I had a lot of visit obligations, I like to look at myself as a bit of a recruiter myself. But you trust the coaching staff that they’ll bring in great guys. The last three years that I’ve been here we’ve had nothing but great dudes that are willing to sacrifice and bring those qualities to the program that will help winning and bring success,” Jayden said.
“I think the main (recruiting pitch) for us is you’re going to be in a place where you’re able to be successful and win and grow and become the best version of yourself. And then at the same time, I feel like there’s an aspect of it where everybody thinks the program may be what it’s not. Like, obviously it’s super tough, but there’s another side to it where there is a family aspect. Everybody cares about each other, and I feel like people may not consider that when they see us in the game and Coach Hurley’s yelling at everybody, yelling at the refs, we’re yelling at each other, super competitive. Just to show (recruits) that there’s a bit of that soft side, we’re all there for each other and it truly is a family.”
Now three weeks after he made his decision, UConn’s rotation is taking shape. The Huskies were able to return Demary and Mullins, in addition to the Ross brothers, and added four transfers in Najai Hines, Nik Khamenia, Oskar Giltay and Nils Machowski, along with incoming freshmen Colben Landrew and Junior County. The plan is still to add another rotational four-man before filling out the rest of the roster with practice players and developmental pieces.
Jayden’s positional versatility gives Hurley options. He could compete for a starting role on the wing, or return to the reserve role he thrived in down the stretch of the season, which built significant trust between him and the coaching staff. He has proven a track record of humility over the last three years and will fit in wherever the team needs.
“Obviously continuing to stay in the weight room and get bigger is one of the main things for me. I think I found a lot of consistency in my shot toward the end of the year, so building on that, and then also just tighten up the handle a little bit, be able to be on-ball and be more comfortable making moves to be able to score more,” he said. “Looking to be more aggressive and assertive on offense is one of the main things I’m looking to be able to do.”
The 6-foot-7 wing finished the best season of his career averaging 4.6 points, 2.5 rebounds and 0.8 steals in 17.4 minutes per game. He shot 50.4% from the field and 39.1% from beyond the 3-point line, including a 4-for-7 effort from deep in the NCAA Tournament.
“I just think I saw a confident him, him playing at one of his most confident states,” Jacob said. “I think he’s a great player, I think he’s an NBA player. Obviously I’m biased because this is my brother, but that’s what I truly believe. I’m just proud of him, seeing what he went through last year and this year, him being a major role in what we did throughout the tournament and that push, I just couldn’t be prouder as a younger brother.”
Jayden takes pride in being a “four-year guy” in an age where it’s become increasingly uncommon.
“This is truly my home, it means a lot to me. This is a place I would like to come back one day when it’s all said and done and be able to say I played here, be able to come back and see the guys. You see the culture here, like when we were at the Final Four you see all of those guys that won championships and were successful here come back and be a part of the program still,” he said. “That type of stuff means a lot to me. It’s really cool to be able to say I’ve been here four years.”
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