UConn’s Alex Karaban leaves door open on future as Diarra, Johnson end UConn careers with ‘warrior’ effort

Alex Karaban could barely hold himself together as he sat in the UConn locker room following Sunday’s loss to No. 1 seed Florida in the Round of 32.

The redshirt junior forward will have a big decision to make, as he did last offseason, on whether or not he’ll return to UConn next season to exhaust his final year of eligibility. He said he hadn’t thought about it yet, and he’ll sit down to discuss his options with Dan Hurley and the coaching staff this week.

“I don’t want to take off this jersey,” he said, sobbing. “I really don’t.”

When it came to his fellow upperclassmen, Hassan Diarra and Samson Johnson, the other two veteran returners who were part of both the 2023 and 2024 national championship teams, Karaban’s emotions really took over.

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The graduating duo set the tone early in the 77-75 loss, playing to extend their UConn careers for at least another week.

“It’s gonna be tough just imagining a locker room without them,” Karaban said, unable to imagine himself anywhere else less than an hour after the final buzzer. “Two of my favorite teammates. They played hard every single night. I get emotional talking about them because I love them. I just love those guys and they deserve a better ending than this. They gave everything they’ve got to UConn. It’s going to be hard imagining next year just not being with them and not seeing a locker room with those guys.”

Johnson, the 6-foot-10 center from Togo, became the program’s all-time winningest player after the Huskies’ first round victory over Oklahoma. UConn went 115-31 over his four year career, which began in the 2021-22 season.

All he wanted Sunday was win No. 116.

“If you would’ve seen the blood in Samson’s mouth,” Hurley said. “I mean, he was getting stitched up like he was fighting Mike Tyson. He was getting elbowed in his face, he was bleeding everywhere during the timeouts. I mean, he battled like the greatest of warriors.”

“What he did was just amazing,” added backup Tarris Reed Jr., whose early foul trouble extended Johnson’s time on the court. “I mean, nine boards, got some points, some dunks, he was blocking shots, he was just the X-factor in that first half. The whole game, I mean, you see how tough he was playing out there.”

Johnson finished with 10 points and 10 rebounds, the second double-double of his career, in his final game as a Husky. He sat at his locker with blood on his jersey, his lip mangled, filled with emotions like the rest of his teammates.

“Coach Hurley, he believed in me when not even I believed in myself,” Johnson said. “He taught me so much on and off the court. He’s one of the most impactful people in my life. He’s changed my life and I’m forever grateful for that.”

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“UConn is my family now,” Johnson said earlier in the postgame press conference, seated next to Karaban, Diarra and Hurley on the dais. “I’ve enjoyed going to war with these guys every single night. I’ve met some incredible people, the coaching staff, all the people around. It’s just like one family. We care about each other so much. They’ll always be my family. Obviously having the most wins in the history of UConn is a great accomplishment, but I feel like, if we had one more win tonight, it would have been even better. It is what it is, but UConn’s family.”

UConn was able to fly his parents in from Togo to watch him play in a Huskies uniform for the first time on Senior Night. Consistently referred to as the “heart and soul of the program” by Hurley, Johnson was explosive in that game, finishing with 14 points, six rebounds, three blocks and a steal. The high-flyer even flew in to finish an alley-oop dunk after Diarra set him up off the backboard.

Johnson came out with even greater force in the game against Florida, which has been touted as a national championship favorite.

Diarra, the 6-foot-2 point guard who sat across from him in the locker room, was a significant reason for the Huskies keeping the game close with his signature pesky defense, constantly causing deflections as he disrupted the nation’s top-ranked offense.

His effort was rewarded just before the end of the half, when he pulled up for a deep 3-pointer that beat the shot clock buzzer and tied the game at the break.

“I love that kid,” Karaban said. “He’s one of the best teammates I’ve ever had. He doesn’t care about scoring, he cares about facilitating, playing hard and every game he gives it his all. He was hurt this entire year and for him to just push through and never sit out a game, I just love that kid. He’s a soldier for us. He’s one of the leaders of the team and he was just unbelievable. He always sets the tone, Samson always sets the tone and they just played with fire.”

Diarra’s impact is rarely represented on the stat sheet. The former Big East Sixth Man of the Year, who stepped into the starting role part-way through this season, finished with six points, four rebounds, five assists and two steals on Sunday.

“He came out with nothing to lose,” said Reed, who followed Diarra as the league’s sixth man in his first year as a Husky. “He’s a junkyard dog. That just goes to show you how much he really cares about this program, cares about winning. He poured so much into this program, he’s seen it all. I just love that dude, man.”

DIarra said he was experiencing “every emotion” as he sat quietly in his locker, disappointed in the loss but thankful and proud of his career, which featured two trips to the top of the mountain after he transferred in from Texas A&M prior to the 2022-23 season.

“They change your life,” Hurley said. “Young men like that change your life. I was a coach, not necessarily on the hot seat going into 2023 – you’ve got to ask (Director of Athletics) Dave Benedict – but until these men, until Alex Karaban put on the uniform and Hass and Samson… The players change your life when you have such special people.

“That’s why we put forth such an honorable effort because we had men out there that just played so hard… They did not want their careers to end. They did not want to hand in their uniform for the last time.”