Alex Karaban injury: UConn forward hospitalized after loss vs. Dayton in Maui Invitational

As if the Maui Invitational couldn’t have gone any worse for UConn, the Huskies will now head home from the islands with their best player dealing with an injury.

Per reporting by ESPN this morning, Alex Karaban went to the hospital after entering the concussion protocol following the 85-67 loss to Dayton on Wednesday. That came after he had hit his head on the court late in the game against the Flyers. However, there was optimism from the program that Karaban would be fine for when they eventually left Hawaii.

“Alex Karaban was taken to a hospital for a head injury…Karaban’s head hit the floor after being fouled with about 2½ minutes left. He stayed in the game but was later placed in the concussion protocol and sent to the hospital for further testing,” ESPN wrote. “UConn team doctor Robert Arciero told reporters he was optimistic as they await the test results.”

Karaban is UConn’s leading scorer at 15.9 ppg while shooting 50.7% from the field and 46.8% from three. He’s also averaging 4.1 rebounds, 3.3 assists, and two blocks.

Over the 0-3 outing in Maui by the two-time defending champions and second-ranked team in the country, Karaban posted 15.3 points, four rebounds, and 2.3 assists while shooting 35.1% overall and 38.1% from deep. That included a poor performance for him in their second loss to Colorado on Tuesday. Still, he had a better outing last night in the eighth-place game with 21 points (46.7% FG, 50% 3-PT), three rebounds, and an assist before his exit against the Flyers.

With the loss, Connecticut fell to 4-3 overall on this season early on with the losses to Memphis, Colorado, and Dayton. For reference, they lost three games during all of last year on their way to back-to-back national titles. In those two championship seasons, they lost just ten in total. ’22-’23 was the last time that they lost this many in a row as well with them losing two straight with a game in between before losing three more in a row as part of a stretch of 2-6 in conference play.

Now, after a start at 4-0 where they defeated their opponents by a margin of 37.8, UConn is leaving Feast Week having been 0-3 against their first major teams of the year with last night’s loss to the Flyers being their worst of the three.

Karaban would only have a few days to receive clearance ahead of a matchup with Maryland Eastern Shore on Saturday. UConn will want him back at least by next week, though, ahead of a four-game stretch to start the month of December against high-quality competition, including three against opponents who are currently in the Top-25.