We’re about 24 hours from no. 4 UConn men’s basketball’s Boston showdown with no. 11 Michigan. We’ve gone over the frontcourt, the returnees, and the freshmen. Now we’re rounding out the roster with the transfer wings.
UConn men’s basketball is on a dream-like run since 2023. Most of the praise gets heaped on the guards or the seemingly endless lineage of post play. But the secret sauce in 2023 and 2024 was the wing connectors, and it may prove to be the difference maker again in 2026-2027.
Andre Jackson’s
switchability and playmaking took UConn to the promised land. That torch was passed to Stephon Castle, and he ran (everywhere) with it. Liam McNeeley did everything he could to replicate the pattern, but the roster was a little too flawed, plus he got hurt. Last year’s team was able to get by without that connector wing.
This year, the Huskies have that position in spades. There’s Colben Landrew and the Ross brothers, discussed here and here. Here we’ll cover Nik Khamenia, Isaiah Shaw, and Jaye Nash (who isn’t a wing but will be discussed here so he isn’t in a category alone).
Nik Khamenia
I (not so) famously compared sophomore Duke transfer Nik Khamenia to ‘Alex Karaban on pre-workout.’ But as we’ve said before, the comparisons between the two should stop.
Alex was more of a floor-spacing stretch four. Nik is an off-ball wing. Khamenia plays with a frenetic-yet-harnessed activity level, whereas Alex was more the cool and calm veteran. With all due respect to Alex, Khamenia is a more well-rounded player at this point in his career. He can do damn near all of the connector things Ross can do, with a little more shotmaking flair. He can guard multiple positions, initiate an offense, and keep the defense honest with plus shooting. It took him one game to match his last year’s season-high in points (16), on just 11 shots. There will be nights he’s asked to score more and nights he’s asked to score less. Similar to Ross, he can fit into whatever UConn is trying to do within a game plan.
There might be some physicality limits when facing teams with jumbo lineups (already worried about Illinois’ David Mirkovic and Arizona’s Ivan Kharchenkov), but that’s where UConn’s help-heavy scheme comes into play. Khamenia is also positionally sound on that end and looks ahead of schedule in using proper angles defensively to make up for any athletic mismatches.
Isaiah Shaw
Shaw’s fifth and final collegiate stop will be a pivot for him. After averaging eight ppg in 22 starts for Northern Arizona last year, his role will be dramatically different this year. His pedigree makes him a worthy bench piece.
A 46% three-point shooter last year, the 6’8 stretch wing can spread the floor in a pinch. You can never have enough shooters (something Luke Murray probably says). The Phoenix native started his career at Grand Canyon, staying for two seasons before one year each at Valparaiso and NAU.
Jayden Nash
Nash isn’t technically a wing. The 6 ‘3 junior from Jacksonville State has athletic attributes and good point guard instincts, averaging 5.4 PPG, 4.0 APG, and 2.8 RPG in 25 minutes per game. He started his career at Tulsa, playing 6.8 minutes per game as a freshman.
He’ll be a depth guy for the Huskies this season, with the potential to compete to break into the rotation next year.
With Junior County looking (way) ahead of schedule, we’ve only seen Nash in mop-up duty. But he has an intriguing skill set and is a plus defender. It wouldn’t be out of this world to see him get some reps.
