The Michigan Wolverines got the best of the UConn Huskies in the 2026 NCAA Men’s National Championship on Monday night, and now UConn has to say goodbye to one of its best players in recent memory: Alex Karaban.
And Karaban’s head coach, Dan Hurley, is forever grateful for the senior forward’s contributions to the program.
“This guy changed my life [and] the staff’s lives,” Hurley said in his postgame press conference following UConn’s national title game loss to Michigan. “The joy he’s brought to the university, the fan base, his decision to come to UConn. … He’s helped make UConn I think right now probably the premier program in college basketball, having been to three out of four national championship games [and] having won two of them. He’s put UConn in that rarefied place in college basketball.
“Everyone owes everything to that guy, and I figured let me just play him into the ground one more time. Just one more 40-minute game for Alex. Let me just play that guy into the ground one more night like I have throughout his career. He deserved to play 40 minutes.”
Karaban finished the 69-63 UConn loss with a team-high 17 points, 11 rebounds and two steals; he played all 40 minutes. The Huskies connected on nine 3-pointers and held the Wolverines to just two 3-balls, but Michigan went 25 of 28 from the free throw line and led the entire second half.
As for this season, Karaban averaged 13.2 points and 5.3 rebounds per game, while shooting 46.4/37.4/85.1. He led the Big East with 34.3 minutes per contest and played in every minute of three games this season and seven games altogether over his collegiate career.
Karaban redshirted the 2021-22 college basketball season and was then a four-year starter for the Huskies, highlighted by being part of their 2023 and 2024 national title triumphs. Over the last three years, he averaged 13.5 points and 5.2 rebounds per season, while shooting a combined 46.6/36.7/85.0.
Karaban stands first in UConn history with 292 3-pointers and 4,906 minutes played, fifth with 670 overall field goals and sixth with 1,880 points. He was a two-time All-Big East honoree.
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