STORRS — Alex Karaban popped out to the corner in Gampel Pavilion and caught a pass from Solo Ball. In one motion, the UConn forward put up his sixth 3-point attempt of the game and held his release as the ball rattled through the rim, then he turned to the crowd behind his own bench and blew a kiss.
Karaban shot 5-for-7 from deep in the Huskies’ season-opener, and he knew the sixth attempt was good to push UConn’s lead to 38 late in the second half over Sacred Heart.
It was a perfect opportunity to break out the celebration he recently adopted from Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum – some flare that he’d deferred during UConn’s last two national championship seasons.
“I’d watch the games last year and it was like, I made a bucket and I just went back, or I would just show no emotion or excitement,” he said. “I realized this year that it’s a privilege to play at UConn, it’s a privilege to put on the jersey. And I just want to play with that swagger.”
At Big East Media Day, coach Dan Hurley said his star player does a bad job (he used a more explicit word) of drawing attention to himself. That if he were in Karaban’s position, with a chance to become one of the winningest players in college basketball history, he would be “running around screaming at people.”
Hurley has also called on his three-year starter to take more initiative in games, to be more assertive in seeking out his own shot. He also wants Karaban to set an example and a tone for the rest of the team to follow with his emotion in addition to the knowledge and experience.
“It helps ease up the group of guys, too. If they see myself, who’s a veteran here, just play freely and just having fun out there, it makes the other guys want to have fun out there too and have some emotion out there. Just really trying to have fun out there and just be yourself,” Karaban said.
He added: “I’ve definitely surprised myself a little bit, celebrating and hyping people up and doing stuff I typically wouldn’t do, but I actually have more fun with it now, so it’ll continue this year.”
Hurley, of course, loves it.
“I love it, I love it, I love it,” said the head coach, never shy of his emotion on the sideline. “He’s really owning (it) and it’s not fake, phony. He puts in enormous amounts of work. He hides from attention, but he just leads the right way. He leads by example, now he’s leading in a vocal way but not in a showy way. He’s doing it to try to get the most out of the people around him and to help them have more confidence, and I like the fact that he’s trying to get the crowd, too.”
Karaban’s role involves hitting open shots and creating them for others. He’s grown significantly as a rebounder and as a defender, adding shot-blocker (3.3 per game) to his defensive resume this year.
But when he’s not making plays, Karaban is to bring the team to a huddle after the whistle, or to be in his teammate’s ear discussing what he sees on the court, making sure everyone’s on the same page.
The role is growing on him.
“(I’m) way more comfortable now than I probably ever was before, took a lot of growth and took a lot of adjustment with that. It’s a credit to the coaches for pushing me outside my box every single day and just making sure my teammates always listen to me, and me realizing how impactful my voice truly is,” Karaban said.
“He’s doing a great job,” said Hassan Diarra, one of the three players who were part of both championship teams, also taking on a leadership role this year. “He’s super comfortable, he’s been in this program, he’s the most experienced person in this program – him and Sam (Samson Johnson) – so he knows exactly what coach wants (and) he’s able to relay those messages to guys like Tarris (Reed Jr.) and Aidan (Mahaney) and the young guys.”
UConn lost four starters to the NBA Draft and brought in six new players – two transfers and four freshmen – to contend for three-peat this season. No men’s program has accomplished the feat since John Wooden’s UCLA teams won seven national championships in a row (1967-73) more than 50 years ago.
Hurley named Andre Jackson Jr. and Adama Sanogo team captains before the 2022-23 championship season. It was the first time he ever explicitly named a captain for his team. Since then, he hasn’t felt the need to.
Donovan Clingan naturally stepped into a lead role last year with his locker room personality and Connecticut roots. Steph Castle and Tristen Newton showed emotion on occasion, but not like Cam Spencer, whose competitive energy always engaged the crowd – whether it was with him or against him. Spencer is who Hurley envisions when he says the phrase: “UConn swagger,” but captain responsibilities were more or less done by committee.
This year?
“I forgot to name a captain,” Hurley said, dropping a trademark expletive, then shrugging because the role had already filled itself naturally.
The team had been calling Karaban, “Cap,” in the summer and the preseason, and his lights-out performance in the season-opener – the first time a Division I player had 20 points, 7 assists and 7 blocks in a game since 2003 – really established the title.
“He’s catching dunks and yelling in people’s faces, we need that from Alex. He’s our captain, he’s our leader, so as he does things like that, the team feeds off of it,” Diarra said. “The first game of the season, the way he played that game, he just led by example. An all-time vet performance for him with how efficient he was, how many plays he made. I would just say the first game of the season we could see, ‘Okay, yeah, this is our leader.’”
