Alex Karaban drives UConn to Elite Eight, keeps Dan Hurley sane along the way

WASHINGTON, D.C. — At this point, you almost needn’t look. The ball went inside to Tarris Reed Jr. Carson Cooper helped off a half-step too many. The ball popped out to Alex Karaban, who had raised his hand as soon as Cooper had turned his head. It didn’t matter that Reed’s pass took Karaban to the outskirts of the midcourt logo, or that Cooper, with his 6-foot-11 height and a wingspan even longer, closed out nearly perfectly.

When the ball left Karaban’s hands, he knew it, his teammates knew it and Michigan State might have known it, too. The ball hit nothing but nylon, and Huskies faithful erupted. Karaban pumped a fist — ecstatic yet composed — in the direction of Dan Hurley. It wasn’t the dagger, but it put UConn up by four with roughly 30 seconds to play. The Huskies made their free throws, and Karaban — who else? — intercepted Michigan State’s last desperation pass to secure a 67-63 rollercoaster win and advance to the Elite Eight, where it will face No. 1 seed Duke.

“I refuse to lose and really do anything to help this team win,” Karaban said. “The main thing in the huddle that really stuck with me is coach saying, ‘Go out there and fire, have no regrets at the end of this,’ when Michigan State started making their run. That just really stuck with me.

“If I see a glimpse of an opening, I’m going to let it fly.”

It’s Karaban’s 16th NCAA Tournament win as a starter. The only players with more are Christian Laettner and Bobby Hurley, Dan’s brother, per CBS Sports research. All 16 have come at UConn with Dan Hurley as his coach.

“It’s like having an associate head coach that is in the locker room, that lives in the apartments, that is in the dining [room], that is in the weight room, that’s peer pressuring his teammates to do extra,” Hurley said. “It’s like having a top assistant that’s on your team and always around your players.”

The off-court leadership is nice. The on-court production is better. Karaban scored 17 points, gathered seven rebounds, dished out three assists and blocked two shots. He and Reed (20 points) have carried the Huskies this NCAA Tournament; that duo, fittingly, scored the Huskies’ final 11 points of the game and 24 of the team’s 32 in the second half.

“That’s what this time of year is all about,” Hurley said. “You’ve got to have great upperclassmen.”

Karaban is the rare one who did it as an underclassman, too. A good but not elite recruit — he was outside the top 100 in the 247Sports 2022 class rankings — he stepped right in and started all but one game as a freshman. The Huskies demolished everything in their NCAA Tournament path en route to a title. They did it the next year, too, and Karaban added a second national title to his burgeoning yet already historic list of accomplishments.

It nearly came to a crashing halt months later. Hurley strongly considered the Lakers job in what would have been a stunning but not unreasonable departure. Thursday, Hurley even admitted he wishes he could have taken a gap year after two straight titles.

“Whatever he wanted to do, whatever would make him happy, his family happy, that’s ultimately what we all wanted,” Karaban said. “For him to come back and want to stay at UConn was a blessing for us. We greatly appreciated that. We just want to repay him with how we play on the basketball court.”

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The lone returning starter from the second title team, Karaban became a leader. Previous teams had Adama Sanogo, Tristen Newton, and Andre Jackson — upperclassmen who had been through the ropes in Storrs.

The season didn’t go as planned, especially given the enormous (and, frankly, unfair) expectations. Replacing four starters isn’t easy. Three-peating isn’t easy. It hasn’t happened since John Wooden was leading UCLA more than 50 years ago. UConn was up-and-down all season and bowed out to eventual champion Florida in the second round.

Karaban’s shooting numbers dipped — from 64% from 2 to 54%, and from 38% from 3 to 35% — year-over-year. He eschewed the NBA Draft for a second straight offseason and got to work.

“Last summer, I remember we were reading stats about shooting,” Reed said. “I think he was shooting like 10,000 shots — something crazy — in the summer. Just knowing his dedication off the court, how much he’s just bought into the team, it’s been ups and downs throughout your career, but to see where he is now and him leading us to the Elite Eight is just so special.”

The shooting numbers speak for themselves, but bouncing back took more than on-court work. So he took up meditating before games.

“I think I didn’t do that enough last year,” Karaban said. “My main focus right now is to really lead this team, help these guys out, make sure everyone is themselves and confident. Picking guys up if they make a mistake or continue to support everybody out there on the court and really just do whatever it takes to win. … When I first came in here, guys were doing that to me. Now it’s just my turn to do that to younger guys and other teammates.”

That doesn’t mean he doesn’t get pumped up. When Reed, a 59% free-throw shooter, knocked down two big ones to put the game out of reach, Karaban was the first person to get right in Reed’s ear and tell him “the preparation truly pays off, and I’m super proud of him.”

Anyone can try to be a leader, or even be bestowed the title. Karaban, though, leads successfully, towing the lines between program record-setter, leader, teammate and, as Hurley put it, de-facto associate head coach.

“[He was] just talking to me about how it was winning here and what they want to get back doing, what the standard is,” said Georgia transfer Silas Demary Jr said of his visit last summer. “At first, from the outside looking in, you think he’s quiet, but once you’re around him, you see how much of a leader he is, see how much he talks, see how much of a great person he is, and he’s a great person to be around. His leadership has always stuck out to me.”

When asked what sets Karaban apart as a leader, Reed racked his brain and then said simply, “Everything.”

“The way he works off the court, the discipline and what he’s motivated by on the court, that guy works his tail off,” Reed said. “Having a guy like that who just knows how to win. He makes the right plays at the right time, he can score at three levels; off the court he’s focused on his body, his meals. It’s like he does everything right. Just having a guy to lead the team like that is so special.”

The numbers are special, too.

His name is up there with UConn’s all-time greats. Richard Hamilton. Ben Gordon. Ray Allen. Shabazz Napier.

He has the chance to add to it, too. Sunday, he’ll become the first player to start in an Elite Eight game in three different seasons since Devonte’ Graham (2016-18). No player has started in a Final Four game in three different seasons since Luc Mbah a Moute (2006-08). Only four players in the past 50 years have started in a national championship in three different seasons, and they’re all titans of the sport: Laettner, Hurley, Grant Hill and Patrick Ewing.

After Hurley decided to stay, he cited several factors: the chance to chase a three-peat, proximity to family, his family’s love for Connecticut and the ability to help mold college athletes.

He didn’t admit it publicly, but returning to coach Karaban — then a two-time champion in two years, already becoming an extension of the coach himself — certainly played a factor, too. How could it not?

“I’m just glad [about] the decision to come back for this last year, that he’s been able to play as well [as he has], and his last run has been fun,” Hurley said. “Obviously, he’s improving his draft stock, and he’s established himself as the biggest winner and the most decorated player in UConn history. That’s hard to do at a place like ours.”