University of Connecticut Athletics
Karaban Quickly Gets Back To Work
11/30/2023 11:58:00 AM | Men's Basketball
By PHIL CHARDIS
Special to uconnhuskies.com
STORRS, Conn. – Anyone who knows Alex Karaban knew exactly where to find him late Monday evening after the UConn men's basketball team had defeated New Hampshire, 84-64, at Gampel Pavilion.
Out celebrating with his teammates, perhaps? After all, the No. 4 Huskies had just extended their perfect start to the season to 7-0, had run their overall winning streak to a Division I-leading 13 in a row, and set a national record with their 24th consecutive win by double digits over non-conference competition.
Nope.
Maybe resting at home? After all, he played more than 32 minutes on Monday and is averaging just under 30 minutes a game for the season.
Wrong again.
One look at Monday's box score and noting Karaban's 3-11 overall shooting statistic and his 0-6 from three-point range and it was easy to pinpoint his whereabouts after the game – on the Huskies' practice court in the Werth Center, putting up three-point shot after three-point shot, looking to regain his shooting eye.
"I've never gone 0-for-6 in a game before, not in high school, not here," Karaban said.
Others might have written off the performance as just a rare off-night, but that's not how Karaban is built. The 6-8 redshirt sophomore's answer was to work harder. For a solid hour or so, he put up three-pointers, until he felt satisfied that he was back in form.
"It was a lot of shots, maybe 250, all threes, on the move, and then any shot I missed during the game, I recreated and shot it and made it a few times," Karaban explained. "I think it was a mix of a little bit of mechanics and an off-night. When I got here, I would just think back on the reasons why I was missing those shots and just try to fix whatever it was – whether it was not enough legs on the shot, the spin on the ball was bad, or whatever. I can remember everything I did during the shots."
Karaban (Southboro, Mass.), along with grad transfer Cam Spencer and grad Tristen Newton, are the main three-point threats on the UConn roster.
"With shooting, it's something I try to never overthink," Spencer said. "You're going to have good games and bad games, you just have to trust the work that you've put in. A shooter's got to shoot. They're going to start going in at some point, so you just have to keep lettin' 'em fly, as long as they're good shots.
"Maybe after the game, you might go back and look at your misses and a sometimes they may not be in the best rhythm shots or I didn't have my legs right or maybe I didn't follow through -- just little tweeks like that. But at the end of the day, all you need to see is one go in and you go from there."
Karaban, Spencer and the Huskies go on the road for their next game, challenging No. 5 Kansas at Allen Fieldhouse in Lawrence in the BIG EAST-Big 12 Battle on Friday (9 p.m., ESPN2).
"Alex is an unbelievable shooter," Spencer said. "There are good games and bad ones, but Alex is certainly going to have a lot more good ones."
