The bulk of the UConn men’s basketball roster is in place for next season.
Dan Hurley and his staff were able to retain a core trio in Silas Demary Jr., Braylon Mullins and Jayden Ross, as well as his brother, Jacob, who redshirted last season. They addressed key areas of need in signing center Najai Hines and wing Nik Khamenia out of the transfer portal, and are bringing in a pair of freshmen who can impact the rotation in Junior County and Colben Landrew, both four-star recruits ranked in the top-50 of their class.
The Huskies also learned that Solo Ball, a two-year starter, will be taking a medical redshirt year after undergoing wrist surgery and return for the 2027-28 season.
That news left UConn with three guards on its roster as it stands Wednesday, a day after the window closed for players to enter the portal, in Demary, Mullins and County.
Demary and Mullins will be expected to eat up most of the minutes at the one and two (Mullins can also play the three), after both averaged more than 28 minutes per game this past season. The Huskies have confidence in County being able to come in as a reserve in the backcourt, but will be looking to add another combo guard into the mix as well who can handle the ball, shoot it, and provide an edge at the defensive end.
It seems likely that Ross will remain in the role he was comfortable in to end the season, a sixth-man who can bring energy on defense and in transition, and hit a few shots (he was 39.1% from 3 last year). He plays primarily on the wing, where he could end up competing with Landrew for the starting spot, but he could also fill minutes at the two. Landrew, the Gatorade Player of the Year in Georgia with college-ready size at around 6-foot-6, 235 pounds, has a real shot at being an immediate contributor and cracking the starting lineup. UConn has had a freshman in its starting lineup in each of the last seven seasons.
The Huskies found their replacement for Alex Karaban in Khamenia, who will likely start in his spot at the four, but also has the skillset to play on the wing. Khamenia has a lot of the same traits as Karaban in his basketball IQ, passing and 3-point shooting ability. UConn will look to add a rotational four man, likely with more of a traditional skillset, to back him up in the frontcourt.
UConn men’s basketball reaches back into portal for a former top 15 high school prospect
At center, Hines figures to be one of the best transfer portal additions in the nation in terms of his fit in Hurley’s system. He is a big, physical post presence – similar in some ways to Tarris Reed Jr. and Adama Sanogo – who has knack for rebounding and blocking shots, but wasn’t able to establish starter’s minutes in his freshman year at Seton Hall, where he split time at the position with senior Stephon Payne.
UConn’s top priority is to add a rotational center who will form the two-headed monster that the program has been so successful with in the past. After seeing Eric Reibe enter the transfer portal and commit to USC, the Huskies reportedly hosted former Stanford center Oskar Giltay on campus Wednesday. Giltay, another rising sophomore, is a 6-foot-10 rebounder and shot-blocker from Belgium who started in five games and averaged 14.6 minutes for the Cardinal this past season. He averaged just 3.3 points on 62.7% shooting from the field, but grabbed 4.1 rebounds and blocked 1.2 shots per game in the limited minutes.
Reibe was one of five players to leave Storrs and enter the portal, and he was first to find his landing spot (USC) as Jaylin Stewart, Jacob Furphy, Uros Paunovic and Rrezon Elezaj are still going through the process.
With three additions coming – the rotational center, power forward and backup guard – UConn’s roster would grow to 11 and be capable of forming a strong nine- or 10-man rotation. From there, the Huskies would look to fill out the 15-man roster with practice and developmental players – likely going the veteran route as they did this past season in signing players like Alec Millender and Dwayne Koroma, who were able to come in and hold their own when their number was called.
