The UConn men’s basketball team was well-represented on the Nasmith Starting Five watch lists.
Tarris Reed Jr. was the fifth Huskies’ starter named as a top-20 candidate for the positional awards when the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award watch list for the top center in the nation was announced Friday afternoon.
Reed, who came to UConn last year from Michigan and served as the Huskies’ second center behind Samson Johnson, was named Preseason First Team All-Big East last week ahead of his senior campaign. He had eight double-doubles last season and averaged 9.6 points, 7.3 rebounds and 1.6 blocks in 19.9 minutes per game, while shooting a career-best 67% from the field and 64.4% from the foul line.
Coach Dan Hurley is expecting an even better version of the big man this year, saying he grew in the offseason and got a lot stronger to be a more physical presence down low. But Huskies’ fans have yet to see him play in the preseason, missing both exhibitions as he recovers from a hamstring injury. Hurley is hopeful Reed will be ready for the start of the season on Monday, but is playing it safe after he tried to come back in practice and re injured it once before.
“He moves better than most guards laterally, running, vertical athleticism off the board, he checks every box,” Hurley said this summer. “With him it’s motor, it’s intensity, it’s a warrior mentality, it’s discipline, it’s losing your technique and fundamentals at times. If this guy puts it all together, he’s as good a center as there is in the country.”
UConn’s additional representation on the watch lists for the Naismith Starting Five Awards includes point guard Silas Demary Jr. (Bob Cousy Award), shooting guard Solo Ball (Jerry West Award), small forward Braylon Mullins (Julius Erving Award) and power forward Alex Karaban (Karl Malone Award). The Huskies have only had three winners of the positional honors in Tristen Newton (2024), Shabazz Napier (2014) and Kemba Walker (2011), who have all received the Cousy Award.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award watch list
Robbie Avila, Saint Louis; Flory Bidunga, Kansas; Nate Bittle, Oregon; Chris Cenac Jr., Houston; Oscar Cluff, Purdue; Alex Condon, Florida; Zuby Ejiofor, St. John’s; Malique Ewin, Arkansas.
Owen Freeman, Creighton; Magoon Gwath, San Diego State; Tomislav Ivišić, Illinois; Aday Mara, Michigan; Rienk Mast, Nebraska; Patrick Ngongba, Duke.
Felix Okpara, Tennessee; Jayden Quaintance, Kentucky; Tarris Reed, Jr., UConn; Moustapha Thiam, Cincinnati; Ernest Udeh Jr., Miami; Henri Veesaar, North Carolina.
