UConn got an early-season scheduling gift on Tuesday, and it came with a painful asterisk.
According to Pete Thamel of ESPN, Michigan’s Brandon McCoy will miss the entire season because of an ACL injury, which means he will not be on the floor when the Huskies meet the Wolverines in a championship rematch on Nov. 6. McCoy, a freshman, was ranked by ESPN as a Top-20 player and was expected to make a major impact for Michigan, the defending national champions.
The injury happened during an exhibition in Croatia.
Michigan is dealing with plenty more than McCoy’s absence. The Wolverines also lost three first-round draft picks to the NBA, and head coach Dusty May left for the NBA to take the Dallas Mavericks job. Even so, they still project as a strong team in a Big Ten that should be loaded.
That matchup is only one piece of a brutal run for Dan Hurley’s team. UConn is set to see Arizona, Kansas, Duke, Illinois and Arizona on the schedule, and in Arizona and Illinois, along with Michigan, the Huskies will face all three other Final Four teams from a season ago.
The Huskies will again lean on a starting backcourt of Silas Demary Jr. and Braylon Mullins. Even with that foundation, there’s plenty of uncertainty after the departures of Tarris Reed Jr. and Alex Karaban to the NBA, and this schedule will force the team to work through some growing pains.
UConn’s season opens on Nov. 2, but the Huskies will get two tune-ups before that. They face Syracuse in an exhibition on Oct. 13 and then play Purdue on Oct. 27.
In other UConn news, the football team is only five days away from its season opener against Lafayette on Saturday at noon ET.
The Huskies are coming off a 9-4 season in 2025 and are beginning the Jason Candle era after Candle replaced Jim Mora. Candle arrives after spending 10 years at Toledo, but UConn still has not named a starting quarterback with just days remaining before kickoff.
In Other News...
Jason Candle Is Bringing A Very Different Tone To UConn Football
Jason Candle arrives in Storrs with the kind of rsum that commands attention, and UConn is already getting a feel for the tone he brings with him. After going 81-44 at Toledo, he has stepped into a new job that seems to be as much about the day-to-day atmosphere as it is about wins and losses. Players and observers around the program have pointed to his unselfish approach and steady character, the sort of traits that can reshape a locker room as much as a playbook.
The early signs suggest Candles influence is going to be felt well beyond the practice field, especially as UConn settles into a new era under a coach who has already earned trust in his previous stop. There is still plenty to sort out before the Huskies open the season, and the biggest questions around the team are the kind that usually define a preseason. For now, though, the story is less about a quick fix than about a coach setting a different standard and asking everyone around him to buy in. [Read more 🡒]
UConn Just Put Its Identity In The Hands Of Newcomers
UConns leadership picture for 2026 is taking shape around a group that is still getting acclimated to Storrs. The Huskies announced four captains for the coming season, and the list leans heavily on newcomers, with offensive lineman Ty Chan the only one who has already logged meaningful game experience in a UConn uniform after starting nine games in 2025.
Avery Dunn, KVon Sherman and John Lista round out the group, giving the program a captaincy block built mostly from transfer additions rather than longtime returnees. Sherman came over from Toledo with head coach Jason Candle, while Lista arrived from Penn, and the setup says plenty about how quickly UConn is asking fresh faces to absorb the programs standards and help define what comes next. [Read more 🡒]