The UConn men’s basketball program has filled the 13th spot on its 2025-26 roster.
Alec Millender, an experienced 6-foot-1 guard from Chicago, announced his commitment to the Huskies on Instagram Thursday afternoon. Millender comes to the Huskies from IU Indianapolis, where he averaged 8.2 points and 3.7 assists in 30.2 minutes per game last season and shot 43.5% from beyond the 3-point line.
Before transferring up to the Division I level last year, Millender spent four years at Division II Wayne State, sitting out the 2022-23 season as a medical redshirt. With more than 100 college games under his belt, Millender will most likely serve as a veteran backup option in his redshirt senior year behind UConn’s loaded backcourt unit that features a pair of point guard transfers in Silas Demary Jr. and Malachi Smith, as well as returning sharpshooter Solo Ball and incoming five-star freshman Braylon Mullins.
With their already talented roster, the Huskies were picked to receive a No. 1 seed in ESPN’s way-too-early bracketology projection over the weekend.
Anticipating an increase in scholarships if the pending House settlement passes, the Huskies will likely have two more spots they can fill before the 2025-26 roster is complete. As general manager Tom Moore said earlier this month, 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.” Millender is no exception. UConn was the only power conference program that had contacted him, according to the list his agent put out last week.
How UConn men’s basketball plans to fill out its 2025-26 roster with pending House settlement
“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,” 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.”
UConn’s current roster is highlighted by key returners Alex Karaban and Tarris Reed Jr., as well as an exciting returning junior class in Ball, Jaylin Stewart and Jayden Ross. McDonald’s All-American center Eric Reibe, Australian wing Jacob Furphy and Jacob Ross, Jayden’s brother, join Mullins in making up a talented incoming freshman class, with Le Moyne transfer Dwayne Koroma adding to the frontcourt depth. The Huskies seem to still be in the market for a third option at center who can back up Reed and Reibe.
