STORRS– The UConn men’s basketball program filled out its 2025-26 roster earlier this month, but perhaps its most impactful signing happened Wednesday afternoon.
Elijah Randolph, a 12-year-old from Farmington, sat beside his parents, head coach Dan Hurley and his two current favorite Huskies, Solo Ball and Tarris Reed Jr., as he signed his letter of intent to become an official member of the program through Team IMPACT. Randolph has been battling Blastic Plasmacytoid Dendritic Cell Neoplasm (BPDCN), a rare form of blood cancer, for the last two years.
In the process, which has included several rounds of chemotherapy and additional treatment, Randolph befriended Hurley’s wife, Andrea, who regularly volunteers at the Connecticut Children’s Cancer Center in Hartford and became his Uno adversary.
In the midst of their second consecutive national championship season, the team visited the unit, had a dance party and played games with the kids. Randolph spent a majority of that time putting up shots on a mini hoop with Donovan Clingan, Jaylin Stewart and Cam Spencer, who was his first favorite player.
Before he met Andrea, Randolph’s interest in sports was all about race cars and Formula 1.
He had no interest in basketball.
“That just changed his life,” said his father, Carl.
Randolph and his family attended a number of games through the end of the 2023-24 season, including the Final Four in Phoenix, where he shared a meaningful hug on the court with Spencer following the Huskies’ championship. He continued to come around the team last season, often going into the locker room after games and getting to know the players.
“Elijah’s impacted the coaches and players more than we’ve impacted him and his family,” Dan Hurley said. “You absorb the spirit and the fighter’s mentality of young people that battle the way he’s battled. That becomes part of your identity in your team.”
The relationship was on display prior to the press conference as Randolph showed off a jump shot that drew Steph Curry comparisons with the whole team supporting him, celebrating every time he put the ball in the net.
Top-ranked UConn men’s basketball team pays rewarding visit to Connecticut Children’s Cancer Center
“He brings that positive light,” said Reed, a senior. “Going through the highs and lows of last year, having a guy like Eli in the locker room after the game really brought a good vibe to the locker room. Knowing him and his story just really inspires us. He said we were his favorite team and me and Solo were some of his favorite players, so as a college athlete, I mean, that’s so huge. Like, ‘Oh man, a kid really looks up to me.’ You can’t take any day for granted, you can’t take any game for granted. You’ve really got to give it your all (because) you have kids out there watching you that look up to you. A guy like Eli, I love him. That’s like my little brother.”
“I have a good little relationship with him. Sometimes I’ll just be messing around with him, he might take my phone and run off with it, we’ve got a good little connection,” Ball said. “When he said I was one of his favorite players, man, I took that to heart. That motivates me every day whenever I come into this gym and whenever I step on UConn’s campus.”
In her most recent update to Elijah’s GoFundMe page, which has raised over $28,500, his mother, Aurora, posted that the target date for his final day of chemotherapy has been set for Sept. 23, 2025.
Randolph referred to the Huskies as “a second family” and UConn as “a second home.”
But he doesn’t need the team to help him forget about what he’s going through. There is always a smile on his face.
“I just forget it on my own,” he said. “I still do things that somebody traditionally would not do if they’re going through chemo. I just try to act like a normal person, do the things that I used to do.”
Randolph says Dan Hurley “looks a little intimidating on the court, but he’s one of the nicest people I’ve ever met.”
“Words can’t express what I really feel. You can try to put it in a context where it comes across that it really, really, means everything to you,” Carl said. “But unless you’re walking in the shoes, you really don’t understand the love and the compassion and the care that they bring toward the families that are going through trying times. They have truly been a beacon of life for us. All of us.”
