Alex Karaban On Karl Malone Award Watch List

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – UConn males’s basketball redshirt senior Alex Karaban has been named to the Preseason Watch List for the 2026 Karl Malone Award, introduced annuall by the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame to the highest energy ahead within the nation. The Hall of Fame is asserting the preseason watch lists for the “Starting Five” awards this week.

The Southborough, Mass. native is coming off an All-Conference season as a junior, grabbing a Second Team All-BIG EAST nod after averaging 14.3 factors, 5.3 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 1.5 blocks in ’24-25. The do-it-all means of Karaban has him as the one participant in UConn historical past with over 1,350 factors, 500 rebounds, 200 assists, 200 made 3-pointers and 100 blocks. He holds a profession capturing line of .469/.375/.841 and at the moment sits 52 triples away from Rashad Anderson’s program-record of 267.

The Huskies have now seen 4 earn spots on a Naismith Starting Five watch checklist this preseason, with Karaban becoming a member of Silas Demary Jr. (Cousy), Solo Ball (West) and Braylon Mullins (Erving). They are all vying so as to add to the Cousy Awards received by Kemba Walker (2011), Shabazz Napier (2014) and Tristen Newton (2024) because the winners of the positional awards in UConn historical past.