INDIANAPOLIS — Solo Ball saunters into UConn’s jam-packed locker room at Lucas Oil Stadiun on Thursday with a grin, but his heavily-taped wrist is impossible to ignore.
With a Final Four clash against No. 3 seed Illinois looming in less than 48 hours, Ball isn’t quite himself — still dealing with the lingering effects of a mid-December wrist injury that has quietly altered the one thing he’s always relied on most.
Ball isn’t just a good shooter. He’s a great one. A net-shredder in the flesh. His 99 3-pointers last year — the fourth-most in a single season at UConn — prove that loud and clear. But with a Final Four clash with No. 3 seed Illinois looming in less than 48 hours, Ball admitted that he’s compromised right now due to the lingering impact of a painful wrist injury suffered in mid-December. Ball harkens back to a 15-day stretch in December where he landed awkwardly on his wrist against Butler, sat out against DePaul and re-aggravated the injury against Xavier.
UConn won all three games as Ball managed the pain, but it came with a price — and still has Ball dealing with the mental anguish of losing some control over a once-pure jumper.
Ball is shooting just 29% from 3-point range this season. That’s far below his 41% threshold a season ago. He’s still somehow splashed 71 triples, which ranked fifth in the Big East, but the inconsistencies on a game-by-game basis — depending on how the wrist feels — can be equally maddening and illuminating as he navigates playing a hard game without his go-to weapon.
Ball bounces up and down
UConn’s Solo Ball shooting has dropped since a wrist injury on Dec. 15 vs. Butler. Since then Ball’s scoring average has dropped 3.7 points and he’s shooing 7.1 percentage points.
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“I just want to stay on the court,” Ball said. “I’ve had to learn how to move on and try to affect the game in other ways. I’ll do whatever it takes to win.”
Ball went 0-for-5 from downtown, but Dan Hurley doesn’t believe UConn pulls off the epic come-from-behind, Elite Eight win over Duke without Ball’s steal and old-fashioned 3-point play with 3:42 to trim Duke’s advantage to just 67-65. Oh, and he chipped in with a huge offensive rebound with 91 ticks left that earned a trip to the charity stripe to put even more game pressure on the Blue Devils.
Demary got the deflection, Alex Karaban made the extra pass and Braylon Mullins brought the rain for the game-winner, but those two winning plays in the clutch from Ball gave UConn major life, and he didn’t need to make a single jumper to do it.
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“He’s such a threat, and he’s so capable,” Hurley said. “He played so great against Illinois and at MSG (Madison Square Garden, he made some shots, and that’s always good for a player going in versus an opponent because that matters to a player’s psyche. But he’s really guarded well for us in the Sweet 16 and in the Elite Eight, and when he’s not making shots, he creates so much spacing for the others. As long as he guards and rebounds and makes efforts and plays as hard as he can, he’s still like a 30-minute-a-game, incredibly valuable player for us.”
Ball’s home zip code is usually out floating around the 3-point stripe, but he’s tried to crash the offensive glass with more fervor this year. After shooting just 48% on layups a year ago, Ball is up to 58% at the tin in 2025-26. Playing off two feet has helped Ball draw even more fouls. He’s already shot 27 more free throws than a year ago.
Ball don’t lie
Solo Ball’s wrist injury has impacted the types of 3-pointers he is trying this season vs. last.
| Solo Ball’s shooting, explained | 2024-25 | 2025-26 |
| Unguarded catch-and-shoot 3-pointers | 50% | 36% |
| Guarded catch-and-shoot 3-poiters | 33% | 22% |
| Pull-up 3-pointers | 43% | 29% |
Slowly but surely, Ball has tried to become more of a complete player, even if the 3-point decline gets the noise.
“How many hustle plays can I make just trying to do that? It’s just something I got to do more going into these next two games,” Ball says.
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That grittiness from Ball has permeated throughout UConn’s locker room. Point guard Silas Demary Jr. is dealing with a nasty sprained ankle, but he’s on the floor. Forward Jaylin Stewart has dealt with a right knee injury, but he’s back on the floor at the most critical juncture of the season.
“It just speaks to our coach and our culture,” Stewart told CBS Sports. “None of us wants to let the guys down. And Solo been that way his whole life. Never wants to let his teammates down. He always wants to be out there fighting with us. He’s a tough guy. Nobody’s 100% this time of the year, so if you if you can get out there, you got to.”
Everyone has bumps and bruises as the 39th game of the season nears, but UConn is unquestionably the most beat-up team in the Final Four, with two linchpins like Ball and Demary operating below the peak of their powers.
“Winning means a lot to us, and just to have our best guys playing through injuries, knowing that no matter what we want to be on the floor and make those plays, I think it’s a testament to this program,” Demary told CBS Sports. “If we win it all, we’ll be remembered as guys that gutted it out and were able to play through injury no matter what.”
